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THEORY AND PRACTICE 
OF FOREIGN MISSIONS 



BY 

JAMES M. BUCKLEY 




NEW YORK: EATON & MAINS 
CINCINNATI : JENNINGS & GRAHAM 



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Copyright, 1911 by 
EATON & MAINS 



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CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Preface 5 

THE FIRST LECTURE 
BASIS OF FOREIGN MISSIONS 

Philanthropy 11 

Recompense 16 

The Commands and Prayers of the Master 18 

The Final Doom of the Unchristianized Heathen. . 25 

"I Also Will Show Mine Opinion" 29 

THE SECOND LECTURE 

METHODS, MEANS, AND MEN OF CHRISTIAN 
MISSIONS 

A Survey 41 

General Methods of Organization 43 

Confirmation of the Foregoing 47 

Conditions of Success 55 

Financial Problems and Property Titles 56 

Vital Elements 59 

The Selection of Missionaries 61 

Elements of Success in Dealing with Non-Chris- 
tian Peoples 63 

Celibacy or Matrimony for Missionaries 64 

Should Converts Be Sent to Christian Lands for 

Education for the Ministry? 68 

Special Modern Helps 70 

Work of Women's Societies 72 

Christ's Method of Approach Not Outworn 74 

3 



4 CONTENTS 

THE THIRD LECTURE 
HINDRANCES AND HELPS TO MISSIONS 

PAGE 

Eleven Grievous Obstacles 83 

Buddhism 93 

Confucianism 94 

mohammedism 96 

Subtle Dangers in the Christian Churches 102 

Seventeen Distinct Circumstances Favorable to 

Missions 106 

THE FOURTH LECTURE 

WHAT OF THE PRESENT AND THE FUTURE 
OF FOREIGN MISSIONS? 

Protestant Missions in Roman Catholic Countries. 121 

Value of Correct Missionary Statistics 125 

Grandeur of Foreign Missions 126 

Striking Contrasts 133 

Missionary Leaders 141 

The Gift of Missions to Anthropology 147 

What of the Future? 150 



PREFACE 

These lectures were delivered by the Rev. 
James Monroe Buckley, D.D., LL.D., before the 
faculties and students of Syracuse University in 
the second semester of 1908. 

Although they preceded the Edinburgh con- 
vention by more than a year, and the program of 
that convention was not then before the public, 
it will be seen that Dr. Buckley discussed all of 
the essential subjects that were before that great 
body of missionaries and the advocates of the 
world's missionary movements. 

This is not strange, however, as Dr. Buckley 
had for many years been one of the leaders of 
missionary thought in his Church, and has been 
annually a member of the General Missionary 
Committee, where every part of the missionary 
world is brought in review and critically consid- 
ered. 'No man of this great body has given more 
intelligent direction to its work or more con- 
scientious and careful study of its methods. By 
sympathy, by full information, by logical and 
analytical processes of investigation, Dr. Buckley 
is an authority upon the subject of Missions. 
And by full and apt illustration and a lucid and 

5 



6 PREFACE 

attractive style lie presents tlie well-worn sub- 
ject in a way that will engage the attention and 
profitably interest the reader. 

The lectures of this foundation are delivered 
annually at Syracuse University by prominent 
authorities upon the great subject of Missions, 
now asserting a new and increasing interest in 
all Christian Churches. 

James E. Day. 

Syracuse University, December 5, 1910. 



THE FIRST LECTURE 
BASIS OF FOREIGN MISSIONS 



THE FIRST LECTURE 
BASIS OF FOREIGN MISSIONS 

The purpose of the following Lectures was to 
discuss thoroughly every fundamental principle 
and method relating to foreign missions, and to 
point out how they may he best elucidated. As 
they were to be published subsequent to delivery, 
they are here presented exactly as read, with the 
addition of certain extemporaneous explanations 
and illustrations. 

The moral, religious, philanthropic, patriotic, 
cosmopolitan, and even the pathetic and romantic 
aspects of Christian Missions would each furnish 
an inexhaustible supply of inspiring themes for 
impassioned oratory and writing. Were a Chris- 
tian waxing old asked to recount his youthful 
impressions of the missionary movement, he 
would almost invariably respond that the chief 
sources of his interest were the display of idols, 
the graphic recital of the travels and romantic 
adventures of missionaries, the eloquent appeals, 
and descriptions of the strange aspect and man- 
ners of inhabitants of remote and partially ex- 
plored regions, their sacred rivers, temples, and 
sacrificial rites, the Babel-like confusion of 

tongues, and the shocking tales of martyred mis- 

9 



10 ESSENTIALS OP FOREIGN MISSIONS 

sionaries. He would be obliged to state that 
nothing was more exciting and throng-inspiring 
than the visits of the few but distinguished mis- 
sionary secretaries, who combined financial 
ability and fervent eloquence. They could not, 
then, present statistics covering almost the whole 
world, give accounts of great buildings, describe 
universities, read the records of hospitals vying 
with those in Christian nations, or emphasize the 
needs of existing theological institutions. 

The subject assumes the existence, truth, and 
spirit of the Christian religion, and the fact that 
Missions were begun and are continued by vo- 
taries having in view the spread of Christianity 
and through its means the benefit of mankind. 
The term "Christian Missions" implies forms of 
effort put forth in unusual places and among 
those without the religion of Christ, or those 
who, bearing the Christian name, have fallen 
from that faith and practice. The migration of 
peoples in recent years superinduces upon this 
generic definition and description missions to 
those of various religions and languages now 
domiciled in Christian nations. This condition 
is partly covered by the term "home missions." 
Again, the term applies to the unenlightened re- 
gions of Christian countries. Their discussion, 
though as important as any phase of the question, 
must occupy less space than that of foreign mis- 



BASIS OF FOREIGN MISSIONS 11 

sions, because more is known of one's own coun- 
try, and because of the peculiar questions which 
arise in forcing the Christian religion upon 
countries that have not asked for it, and who 
boast of religions established ages before the 
Christian era. 

Christian Missions rest upon three pillars: 
Philanthropy, Recompense, and the Commands 
and Prayers of Christ. 

Philanthropy 

Philanthropy is such a love of the human race 
and of the individual man as to generate an in- 
tense and constant desire to help others. It does 
not require the bestowing of all one's substance 
upon others, but does demand giving to the poor, 
helping the unfortunate, sympathizing with the 
sorrowing, and sharing with them the two price- 
less possessions, knowledge and true religion, pos- 
sessions which augment in proportion to their dis- 
tribution. 

The best illustration of philanthropy, in the 
concrete, is the parable of the good Samaritan. 
The instincts of the Christian heart would 
naturally prompt to intelligent desire to make 
known to the whole world the truths and ex- 
periences which are the sources of perpetual hap- 
piness. The Christian believes that he is in the 
possession of light and truth, and that where 



12 ESSENTIALS OF FOREIGN MISSIONS 

the Gospel light does not shine, there is error 
and darkness. His view includes both the tran- 
scendence and the immanence of God ; but beyond 
the sense of possession of the idea of one Personal 
Sovereign God of the universe the sublime doc- 
trine of the Incarnation meets a prime necessity 
of human nature. Where it is fully accepted it 
at once and forever destroys the needs of idols or 
images, gives to the human soul a conception 
which transforms it into a temple, in which the 
incense of faith continually ascends. The love 
of God, as manifested in the gift of Christ, robs 
all apparent contradictions, inscrutable phe- 
nomena of nature and mysterious Providences 
of power to disturb the confidence of man in God, 
so that the otherwise distracted spirit can say 
within itself: "Though the world be full of 
trouble, though my lot be hard, my way ob- 
structed, my cry apparently unheeded, hath not 
God sent His Son to save me ? Then must all 
things 'work together for good to me.' " 

The offer through Jesus Christ of pardon to 
the guilty strikes a blow at bloody sacrifices and 
superstitious rites, disintegrates the foundation 
of priestcraft, removes the reason for excessive 
fasting, flagellation, and all attempts to propi- 
tiate God by self-inflicted misery. The realiza- 
tion of the sufferings of Christ fills the heart with 
such an abhorrence of sin that all the evil conse^ 



BASIS OP FOREIGN MISSIONS 13 

quences which might have followed an uncon- 
ditional pardon are more than counteracted, and 
the believer is led to consecrate himself to Him 
who "died that we may live, who lives that we 
may die." Christianity, fully comprehended in 
its essentials and firmly believed, undermines the 
whole structure of human superstition. The 
proverbial saying, "Ignorance is the mother of 
devotion," is not true ; ignorance is the mother of 
superstition. 

Christ's life gave to the world its first con- 
ception of absolute purity and of a symmetrical 
and perfect character. In all ages it has been 
observed that particular virtues have been 
strongly illustrated in individual lives; but a 
perfect character had never before appeared. 
Enoch, in the Old Testament, is declared to have 
"pleased God," but his life is not described. All 
the great characters portrayed in the ancient 
books of the Jews were defective or excessive at 
certain points — some grievously so. Abraham, 
the friend of God; Moses, the inspired legis- 
lator; David, as well as Elijah and Elisha, Daniel 
and Jeremiah, were obviously imperfect, and one 
who should imitate them in every respect would 
go widely astray. The inimitable, simple, yet 
rigorously analytical portraiture of Christ given 
in the four Gospels renders it as valuable to the 
world as though the Son of God still walked 



14 ESSENTIALS OF FOREIGN MISSIONS 

among men. Beyond all price is the individual- 
ized sympathy of Jesus with the temptations 
and afflictions of men. His words of love and 
tenderness to all classes so win the hearts of 
those who seek the highest that hatred, strife, 
and all human passions are abashed in His pres- 
ence. The clear statement of moral principles 
which the son of Mary and the Son of G-od gave 
to the world confers inestimable advantages. 
Honesty, truth, temperance, chastity, industry, 
thrift, and the whole catalogue of social virtues 
are described and prescribed by Christ in a man- 
ner to conquer the reason of men of the noblest 
gifts and secure the mental consent of the hum- 
blest peasant. 

Before His appearance the Golden Rule was 
negatively stated; and*, perhaps, positively in a 
few instances, but He placed it in such relation 
to the love of God as to make it an essential ele- 
ment of the devotion of true worshipers. The 
unqualified revelation of the duty of forgiveness, 
the condemnation of pride, arrogance, anger, mal- 
ice, hatred, and envy — furies that infest the 
human heart and often deluge the earth with 
carnage — is peculiar to Christianity. 

Various evil passions and deeds had been con- 
demned by philosophers and religious teachers, 
but the precepts and promises of Christ, more 
definite and comprehensive, are so related to the 



BASIS OP FOREIGN MISSIONS 15 

needs of man and the worship of God as to im- 
press them upon receptive minds and hearts. 

The reciprocal duties of husband and wife, 
parent and child, master and servant, as laid 
down in the Gospel, constitute the true founda- 
tion of the social fabric. Monogamy is prac- 
tically a Christian institution. While the Jews 
received it, they had modified and reversed it 
by exceptions and divorcement at caprice. 

The discrimination, once so prevalent through- 
out the world and among the ancient Israelites, 
between male and female offspring, which among 
various peoples extended to the taking of life, is 
done away with wherever Christianity prevails, 
because woman under the Gospel is regarded as 
man's equal; so that female infanticide is now 
as heinous a crime as the murder of male in- 
fants. How important is Christianity to half 
the human race will appear from the fact that 
among the majority of the vast populations of 
India and China woman is considered far below 
man, and often treated as though but little above 
an intelligent beast. 

Buddhists, Brahmans, Confucianists, and Mo- 
hammedans are amenable to this charge, in vary- 
ing degrees. 

The future life as indicated by Christ in- 
cludes endless peace, joy, communion with God 



16 ESSENTIALS OF FOREIGN MISSIONS 

and all kindred spirits. This inestimable though 
indescribable boon is placed within the reach of 
every human being. Only those who willfully re- 
fuse the offer of salvation will be denied entrance 
to the glorious company of the saints. 

It is impossible to believe that Christians pos- 
sessing such spiritual knowledge, joys, and hopes 
can be indifferent to the pitiable condition of 
those who have no such teaching, example, prom- 
ise, and hope. 

Recompense 

The history of man reveals no period in which 
the race was without religion, and as human na- 
ture is radically the same in all ages and coun- 
tries, having like hopes and fears, loves and 
hatreds, subject to the same depressions, diseases, 
and death, there will always be religion of some 
kind. Not one half of the population of the globe 
are followers of Christ. Christian civilization 
depends upon the transmission of its possessions 
to each succeeding generation. Pagan and most 
other non-Christian religions had been in exist- 
ence ages before Christianity. Consequently, 
having the advantage in numbers, they still gain 
numerically. The failure to recognize this has 
led some to overestimate the gains of Chris- 
tianity, and others to underestimate the present 
rate at which the number of unchristianized 



BASIS OP FOREIGN MISSIONS 17 

people are increasing. Self -protection, there- 
fore, urges Christians to put forth every effort 
to Christianize the unchristian, and especially 
the young. 

The individual needs of evangelism require 
the Churches to maintain the internal fires of 
zeal. Only by imparting can they strengthen in- 
ward conviction of spiritual truth and preserve 
the fervent emotions necessary to support the 
mind against the tendency to utter absorption in 
the things which pertain to self-interest. As in 
Christian lands those professors of the faith not 
interested in the salvation of their fellows are de- 
void of the fruits of the Spirit — love, joy, peace, 
and abounding hope — so a whole denomination 
living for itself alone will disintegrate for want 
of propulsive power. 

The number and importance of civil, military, 
and commercial projects continually enlarge, and 
as they do so Christians should exhibit increasing 
interest in the grandest of all enterprises, the 
peaceful conquest of the world by "the sign of the 
cross." Every congregation of believers is 
strengthened, elevated, and united by such a con- 
ception and its fruits. The protection of our 
fellow citizens whose business, diplomatic and 
otherwise, compels them to sojourn in heathen 
lands, would be sufficient reason for the sending 
of our missionaries to India, China, Japan, and 



18 ESSENTIALS OF FOREIGN MISSIONS 

to the Turkish empire. For the absence of 
churches in the capitals and large cities of the 
pagan world would entail much more dissipa- 
tion, ruin of character, health, and life than does 
the present situation. The familiar sounds and 
forms of Christian worship, as has been testi- 
fied to by many, are a restraining influence upon 
those who are temporarily or permanently in 
non-Christian lands. The fever of travel through 
all lands is increasing with astonishing rapidity, 
and whole families spend a great proportion of 
time in restless journey ings — a demoralizing ex- 
perience unless the facilities for Christian wor- 
ship be afforded them. Their faith also will be 
supported by beholding the activity and success of 
intelligent and spiritually-minded missionaries 
of their Communions. These are some of the 
many recompenses for Christians who support 
foreign missions. 

The Commands and Prayers of the Master 

From the beginning of His ministry Christ 
claimed the whole world. He declared Himself 
the Saviour of the world and the Judge of the 
world ; and when He was risen from the dead He 
spoke unto His apostles, saying: "All power is 
given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye 
therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them 
in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and 



BASIS OF FOREIGN MISSIONS 19 

of the Holy Ghost; teaching them to observe all 
things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, 
lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the 
world. Amen." Missions, therefore, are based 
upon the nature and design of the Gospel. 

"The Son of man came to seek and to save 
that which was lost." He did not give Himself 
for the salvation of the Jews merely, but for all. 
"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only 
begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him 
should not perish, but have everlasting life." But 
the blessings of the Gospel are received by faith, 
and, being so received, it is necessary to give the 
materials of faith, which are summed up in the 
truth. 

The much controverted passage in Mark, "Go 
ye into all the world and preach the gospel to 
every creature," is of the same tenor. It is 
the commission given to all by the Lord and 
Master. His command to the apostles has no par- 
allel in history: "And as ye go, preach, saying, 
The kingdom of heaven is at hand. . . . Behold, 
I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves : 
. . . and ye shall be brought before governors 
and kings for my sake, for a testimony against 
them and the Gentiles, . . . and ye shall be 
hated of all men for my name's sake." "Go ye 
into all the world" is a commission regardless of 
race, place, and time. This thought was ever in 



20 ESSENTIALS OP FOREIGN MISSIONS 

Christ's mind, as is shown in Matthew 26. 13: 
"Verily I say unto you, Wheresoever this gospel 
shall be preached in the whole worlds there shall 
also this, that this woman hath done, be told for a 
memorial of her. 5 ' The injunction applies to all 
colors, tongues, and conditions; to the most ad- 
vanced, who may cavil, and the most degraded, 
who may reject. Go: "And as ye go, preach" — 
as ambassadors from your King — the good tid- 
ings from Him proclaim authoritatively. It was 
a proclamation to kings on their thrones, judges 
in their courts, generals at the head of their 
armies, philosophers in their schools, prisoners in 
their cells, to the rich and to the poor without dis- 
crimination. Among all the pronouncements of 
this commission none is more impressive and 
comprehensive than that in the prayer of Christ, 
recorded in the seventeenth chapter of Saint 
John, referring to His apostles and those who 
already believed on Him: "They are not of the 
world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify 
them through thy truth: thy word is truth. As 
thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I 
also sent them into the world." "Neither pray I 
for these alone, but for them also which shall be- 
live on me through their word." In all these 
passages Christ commits to His followers the 
work of establishing His kingdom. Christ spoke 
of Himself thus, "I am the light of the world." 



BASIS OF FOREIGN MISSIONS 21 

And in the Sermon on the Mount He said to 
His disciples, "Ye are the light of the world." 
Everywhere the spiritual conquest of the world 
is the theme of Christ, and all other teaching is 
subordinate to that purpose. 

The disciples, under His instruction, met to re- 
ceive the promise of Christ : "But ye shall receive 
power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon 
you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in 
Jerusalem and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and 
unto the uttermost part of the earth." And to His 
disciples, as His crucifixion drew near, He said: 
"And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached 
in all the world for a witness unto all nations" 
(Matthew 24. 14; 28. 19, 20). 

Saint Luke records that after the resurrection 
Christ appeared among His apostles and said: 
"Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to 
suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day: 
and that repentance and remission of sins should 
be preached in his name among all nations, be- 
ginning at Jerusalem" (Luke 24. 46). 

Immediately after the day of Pentecost the 
apostles began to preach to the Jews, and those 
apostles and brethren who were in Judsea heard 
that the Gentiles had also received the word of 
of God ; and Peter was put upon his defense. He 
recounted his vision, and said: "Forasmuch then 
as God gave them the like gift as he did unto 



22 ESSENTIALS OP FOREIGN MISSIONS 

us [the baptism of the Holy Ghost], who be- 
lieved on the Lord Jesus Christ ; what was I, that 
I could withstand God?" And when the people 
"heard these things, they held their peace, and 
glorified God, saying, Then hath God also to the 
Gentiles granted repentance unto life." 

Barnabas and several of the others, including 
Paul, preached the Gospel to all classes and con- 
ditions of men, but not until this circumstance oc- 
curred: "When the Jews were gone out of the 
synagogue, the Gentiles besought that these words 
might be preached to them the next sabbath. . . . 
And the next sabbath day came almost the whole 
city together to hear the word of God." The 
Jews, angered by the multitudes that followed, 
denounced this. Peter and John, with un- 
foreseen success, preached the truth to a multi- 
tude of Jews from many parts of the world. Yet 
soon the predictions of Christ were fulfilled. 
They were thrown into prison; but the number 
who believed the word was about five thousand. 
Churches were organized. Then followed the 
preaching and martyrdom of Stephen. 

Peter and the other apostles answered when 
arrested, "We ought to obey God rather than 
men"; and, "We are his witnesses of these 
things." At the conversion of Saint Paul the 
Lord said to Ananias, "Go thy way: for he is a 



BASIS OF FOREIGN MISSIONS 23 

chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before 
the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of 
Israel." From the beginning to the end of the 
book of Acts the preaching, the journeying from 
place to place, the conversions, and all other ele- 
ments of the story can be explained only by the 
firm conviction that they were commanded by 
God to preach the Gospel. 

It is suggestive to read the traditions of the 
distribution and work of the other apostles. 
James is supposed to have remained at Jerusalem ; 
Andrew, to have preached in Scythia, Thrace, 
Macedonia, Thessaly, and Achaia; Philip, in Up- 
per Asia, Scythia, and Phrygia, where he suffered 
martyrdom. Bartholomew is said to have pene- 
trated India; Thomas, to have visited Media and 
Persia, and, possibly, the coast of Coromandel 
and the island of Ceylon; Matthew, to have gone 
to Ethiopia, Parthia, and Abyssinia; Simon 
Zelotes, to Egypt, Cyrenia, Libya, and Mauri- 
tania; Jude, to Galilee, Samaria, Idumsea, and 
Mesopotamia. Saint Paul traveled so exten- 
sively, and recorded his experience so minutely, 
that many countries and cities are identified to 
this day. On the authority of Sophronius and 
Theodoret, Saint Paul came across to Britain 
from Gaul after his second imprisonment. So- 
phronius was patriarch of Jerusalem in the begin- 



24 ESSENTIALS OF FOREIGN MISSIONS 

ning of the second century ; and in a discourse on 
the merits of the apostles he celebrates Paul's 
preaching of the Gospel in Spain and Britain. 
Theodoret was Bishop of Cyprus in the fifth cen- 
tury ; and the hypothesis of Paul's visiting Britain 
is favored by Usher, Parker, Stillingfleet, Cam- 
den, and others. In the Epistle to the Romans 
Saint Paul wrote: "Whensoever I take my jour- 
ney into Spain I will come to you." 

One thing is certain, that during the last sixty 
years of the first century Christianity was dif- 
fused throughout the many countries embraced in 
the Roman empire, including Egypt, Japan, 
North Africa, Spain, Gaul, and Britain, and 
there is no reason to doubt that the Christian 
Church had, at the least, by the year 100, half a 
million members besides the large number that 
had died. 

The command of God, and the teachings and 
labors of the apostles, are indisputable arguments 
for Missions, and they agree with the other pil- 
lars; they make mandatory that which was nat- 
ural, and are of such a nature that their com- 
manding force will never be diminished. 

Were there but one remote island without 
Christianity, it would be the duty of the Chris- 
tian world to master its language, and put it in 
possession of the Pearl of Great Price. 



BASIS OF FOREIGN MISSIONS 25 

The Final Doom of the TTnchristianized 
Heathen 

As countless millions from the beginning, and 
even at this date, have never heard the sublime 
story of redemption, the doom of such has been 
a subject of discussion in all denominations of 
Christians, and also among doubters of the divine 
origin of Christianity. 

That the heathen would be condemned at the 
judgment did not conflict with the principles of 
Augustine and Calvin. The nonelection and con- 
sequent reprobation of certain individuals of a 
ruined race bore the same relation to the stu- 
pendous scheme of predestination whether they 
dwelt in Christian or pagan lands. 

The ancient Grecian fathers did not deny the 
possibility of salvation for the heathen. Justin 
Martyr and Clement of Alexandria held that the 
Logos exercised an agency upon the heathen by 
means of reason, and that heathen philosophers 
were called, justified, and saved by philosophy. 
But after the age of Augustine men began to 
deny the salvation of the heathen, though there 
were always some who judged more leniently. 

Knapp, in his Christian Theology, says : 

The truth seems to be this: that none of the heathen 
will be condemned for not believing in the Gospel, but 
they are liable to condemnation for the breach of God's 



26 ESSENTIALS OF FOREIGN MISSIONS 

natural law; nevertheless, if there be any of them in 
whom there is a prevailing love to the Divine Being, 
there seems reason to believe that for the sake of Christ, 
though to them unknown, they may be accepted by God. 

The Presbyterian Confession of Faith contains 
this passage: 

Others not elected, although they may be called by 
the ministry of the word, and may have some common 
operations of the Spirit, yet they never truly come to 
Christ, and therefore cannot be saved; much less can 
men not professing the Christian religion be saved in 
any other way whatever, be they never so diligent to 
frame their lives according to the light of nature and 
the law of that religion they do profess; and to assert 
and maintain that they may is very pernicious and to 
be detested. 

As stated by a writer in the Bibliotheca Sacra 
the belief that all heathen will be punished ever- 
lastingly "represents heathen who live according 
to their light as much less able to be saved than 
men who hear the Gospel and refuse it; thus di- 
rectly contradicting our Saviour, who declared 
that those who rejected His words would receive a 
heavier condemnation than even the depraved, 
unrepentant inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrha, 
or Tyre and Sidon." "The theory that none of 
the heathen can be saved dooms the entire popu- 
lation of whole countries to a necessary perdi- 
tion, with no present hope of pardon; and it ex- 
tends this judgment backward to generations in 
the past who are represented as having had no 



BASIS OF FOREIGN MISSIONS 27 

share in that mercy which we have such reason 
to believe to be universal in its offers. ... It de- 
clares that there is no possible mercy for the 
heathen unless Christians choose to carry the 
Gospel to them, which practically denies the di- 
vine grace by suspending its exercise so far as 
the heathen, a majority of the human race, are- 
concerned, upon the action of those already en- 
lightened." 

Eichard Watson says: 

The actual state of pagan nations is affectingly 
bad; but nothing can be deduced from what they are 
in fact against their salvability; for although there is 
no ground to hope for the salvation of great numbers 
of them, actual salvation is one thing, and possible 
salvation is another. . . . That men were saved 
under the patriarchal dispensation we know, and at 
what point, if any, a religion becomes so far corrupted, 
and truth so far extinct, as to leave no means of salva- 
tion to men, nothing to call forth a true faith in prin- 
ciple, and obedience to what remains known or knowable 
of the original law, no one has the right to determine, 
unless he can adduce some authority from Scripture. 
. We, indeed, know that all are not equally 
vicious. Nay, that some virtuous heathen have been 
found in all ages; and some earnest and anxious in- 
quirers after truth, dissatisfied with the notions prev- 
alent in their own countries respectively. . . . But 
if we knew no such instances of superior virtue and 
eager desire of religious information among them, the 
true question . . . would still remain, a question 
which must be determined not so much by our knowl- 
edge of facts which may be very obscure; but such 
principles and general declarations as we find applicable 



28 ESSENTIALS OP FOREIGN MISSIONS 

to the case in the word of God (Theological Institutes 
of Watson, vol. ii, p. 445). 

Dr. Dennis, in Foreign Missions After a Cen- 
tury, writes, "Probation after death is unscrip- 
tural and cannot be maintained except by an un- 
candid, forced, and perilous wresting of the Scrip- 
tures." This is incontrovertibly true. But he 
declares that God has nowhere said that in cases 
where Christ's mediation is absolutely unrevealed 
there is no hope of obtaining its benefits. "Who 
of us would dare to close this door of hope and 
to decide ex cathedra that God was helpless, even 
though Christ had died and the Spirit lives, to 
save a soul to whom He had not been pleased to 
transmit in its fullness the revelation of His re- 
demptive methods ?" He, however, says : "We 
would not advance this message of hope as an es- 
sential doctrine of Christian theology, or even a 
clear and specific teaching of the Divine Word, 
since God has been pleased to keep His own coun- 
sel with reference to the possibilities of divine 
mercy; but as we hope and believe in the appli- 
cation of the benefit of Christ's redeeming work 
to all infants dying before they reach the age of 
responsibility, so we may hope and believe that 
there is a possibility also of the extension of this 
principle of grace to those of adult years among 
the heathen who consciously, whether under the 
guidance of the natural conscience or in response 



BASIS OF FOREIGN MISSIONS 29 

to the influences of the Divine Spirit, take before 
God an attitude of humble dependence, and seek 
salvation not upon the basis of merit, but upon 
the basis of mercy, and look to Him in penitence 
and prayer. God would not be God were He to 
turn a deaf ear to the cry of the humble peni- 
tent and trustful soul, even though that cry come 
out of the darkness of the heathen heart." 

The spirit of the foregoing quotation accords 
with the true view. But there seems no reason 
for such cautious treatment. 

It must be the dark shadow of the extreme but 
now fading views of Augustine and Calvin that 
prevents making this theory an essential doctrine 
of theology, and a clear teaching of the Scripture 
that everyone who crieth unto the Omnipotent in 
humility, in true penitence, whether the name of 
God be understood, or any special teaching from 
Him be recognized, is both heard and rewarded. 

The Divine Being can never be justly charged- 
with commanding the impossible, or judging men 
by a law that they never heard, or condemning 
men for stumbling in darkness in which they were 
born and which they were made to believe was 
light. 

"I Also Will Show Mine Opinion" 

First. Those who have never heard of the ex- 
istence of one God, omnipotent, omnipresent, and 



30 ESSENTIALS OP FOREIGN MISSIONS 

omniscient, beneficent and just, or of Christ and 
His teachings, and from their birth have been 
subjected to the imposition upon their minds and 
hearts of elaborate religions which include many 
gods and demeaning ceremonies, perverting the 
understanding and deadening the conscience, can- 
not be held responsible for their helpless igno- 
rance. 

Second. All religions, except perhaps the very 
lowest, contain some principles of morality, some 
recognition of obligation to fellow men, and some 
conception of moral elevation, with at least a be- 
lief that the gods will punish those who disobey, 
and reward those who serve them. By their con- 
sciences they are inwardly condemned or ap- 
proved. 

Third. The Spirit of God must move on the 
hearts of all who do not willfully turn from Him ; 
not revealing all truth, but prompting to good 
works. In this sense Christ "lighteth every man 
that cometh into the world.'' The consequences 
of denying this are set forth unanswerably by 
Richard Watson: 

If all knowledge of right and wrong, and all gracious 
influences of the Holy Spirit, and all objects of faith 
have passed away from the heathen through the fault 
of their ancestors "not liking to retain God in their 
knowledge," and without the present race having been 
parties to this willful abandonment of truth, then they 
would appear no longer to be accountable creatures^ 



BASIS OF FOREIGN MISSIONS 31 

being neither under law nor under grace; but as we find 
it a doctrine of Scripture that all men are responsible 
to God, and that the whole world will be judged at the 
last day, we are bound to admit the accountability of 
all, and with that the remains of law and the existence 
of a merciful government toward the heathen on the 
part of God. 

From these principles the inevitable deduction 
is that those who live according to their light, 
longing for purity, repenting of what they be- 
lieve to be sin, and treating their fellow men as 
the Golden Rule requires, will be admitted to the 
number of the saved. 

Fourth. These principles underlie the New 
Testament. In Saint John (3. 17, 18) it is writ- 
ten: "God sent not his Son into the world to con- 
demn the world; but that the world through him 
might be saved. He that believeth on him is not 
condemned ; but he that believeth not is condemned 
already, because he hath not believed in the name 
of the only begotten Son of God." 

This condemnation is obviously predicted of 
those that have learned of the only begotten Son 
of God, have understood His claims, but have re- 
fused His offer of salvation, not of those who 
never heard of Him. 

In the First Epistle to the Romans Saint Paul 
declared that he was "a debtor both to the Greeks, 
and to the Barbarians"; and in Romans 2. 13-15, 
that "not the hearers of the law are just before 



32 ESSENTIALS OP FOREIGN MISSIONS 

God, but the doers of the law shall be justified. 
For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, 
do by nature the things contained in the law, 
these, having not the law, are a law unto them* 
selves : which show the work of the law written in 
their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, 
and their thoughts the meanwhile accusing or else 
excusing one another." 

In harmony with this view is Saint Peter's 
acceptance of Cornelius, who was not a Jew. In- 
vited by man and commanded by God to meet the 
centurion, Saint Peter demurred, but his doubts 
were dispelled by a miraculous vision, and he 
said, "Of a truth I perceive that God is no re- 
specter of persons: but in every nation he that 
feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is ac- 
cepted with him." Attempts have been made to 
narrow the scope of this passage to those only who 
had already heard of the true. God and were wor- 
shiping Him. Unquestionably, Cornelius was of 
that class. The principle, however, that God is 
"no respecter of persons" must apply to the man 
who is not blamable for ignorance, but lives as 
uprightly as his circumstances permit, maintain- 
ing the same allegiance to the powers whom he 
worships as conscientiously as do pious Chris- 
tians to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. 

Another striking instance is that of Lydia, the 
seller of purple in Thyatira, who worshiped God, 



BASIS OF FOREIGN MISSIONS 33 

and whose heart the Lord opened, so that she at- 
tended unto the things which were spoken of 
Paul. She was a proselyte made by the Jews; 
but if we suppose her to have been as faithful to 
the religion in which she was born as she was af- 
terward to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and 
Jacob, and now to the religion of Christ, would 
she not have been accepted ? To answer this ques- 
tion in the negative would be to impeach both 
the justice and the mercy of God. 

Paul's address at Athens contains one passage 
which justifies and requires preaching to all 
peoples, and recognizes that migrations of the 
nations are not of chance, but a part of the all- 
inclusive plan of God. This is the clause: "And 
hath made of one blood all nations of men for to 
dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath deter- 
mined the times before appointed, and the bounds 
of their habitation; that they should seek the 
Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find 
him, though he be not far from every one of us." 
In that address he had already said : "Forasmuch 
then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not 
to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or 
silver, or stone, graven by art and man's device. 
And the times of this ignorance God winked at ; 
but now commandeth all men everywhere to re- 
pent" 



34 ESSENTIALS OF FOREIGN MISSIONS 

The words "the times of this ignorance God 
winked at" plainly imply that those r to whom the 
Gospel has never been made known are recognized 
as "unable to repent, in the sense of the passage 
quoted. 

The sense in which Christ is the Light of the 
whole world must be that the influence of the 
Holy Spirit is given to every man whether or no 
he has the letter of truth in his possession; and 
those that seek truth, and find only a mixture of 
it with error, are accepted by Him, if they are 
true to the impulses from the Spirit of God. 

Wesley thus grappled the subject: 

Even the heathen did not all remain in total dark- 
ness concerning the invisible and eternal world. Some 
few rays of light have in all ages and nations gleamed 
through the shade. Some light they derived from vari- 
ous fountains touching the invisible world. The heavens 
declare the glory of God, though not to their outward 
sight: the firmament showed to the eyes of their under- 
standing the existence of their Maker. From the crea- 
tion they infer the being of a creator powerful and 
wise, just and merciful. But all these lights put to- 
gether avail no farther than to produce a faint twilight. 
It gave them, even the most intelligent of them, no 
demonstration, no demonstrative conviction of the in- 
visible or eternal world. 

Again, he declared that "the doctrine of Divine 
Providence was believed by many of the eminent 
heathens, not only philosophers, but orators and 
poets. . . . But although the ancient, as well 



BASIS OF FOREIGN MISSIONS 35 

as modern, heathens had some conception of 
Divine Providence, yet the conceptions which 
most of them entertained concerning it were dark, 
confused, and imperfect," 

In another discourse on the passage, "Without 
God in the world," he says : "Let it be observed," 
referring to the Christian dispensation, "I have 
no authority from the Word of God 'to judge 
those that are without/ nor do I conceive that any 
man living has a right to sentence all the heathen 
and Mohammedan world to damnation. It is far 
better to leave them to Him that made them, and 
who is 'the Father of the Spirits of all flesh 7 ; 
who is the God of the heathens as well as the 
Christians, and who hateth nothing that He has 
made." 

Assuming, then, that such heathen will be saved 
as do earnestly live up to their privilege, and 
therefore would accept Christ should He be pre- 
sented to them in a way that would illumine 
their partial light as the sun's rising overpowers 
the light of a candle, and only those rejected who 
are responsible, possessing normal intellectual 
and moral powers, yet willfully violate their own 
sense of right and commit gross crimes against 
human law, natural promptings of conscience, 
and every spiritual influence exerted by the God 
and Father of all men— -the question may arise, 
Why, then, i need we be so concerned to save 



36 ESSENTIALS OF FOREIGN MISSIONS 

them? Why should such responsibility be placed 
upon us? 

There are two answers to these questions, 
either of which is sufficient. The first has already 
been detailed in the account of the benefits which 
the Christian has to bestow upon those vast multi- 
tudes included in the general word "heathen," 
and upon those who, without the excuse of igno- 
rance, have failed to comprehend and accept 
the Christian standard. For such the least that 
philanthropy could do would be to inspire Chris- 
tian nations to endeavor to persuade them to re- 
nounce their superstitions, their debasing cere- 
monies, and their derogatory views of those who 
have the highest degree of Christian civilization, 
and to accept the Saviour of the world. 

The second answer is that the number of the 
saved will be greater if Christianity be preached 
to the non-Christian world than if not. This we 
find in Christian lands ; the greater the light, the 
more intelligent and continuous the efforts of 
Christians to lead many to Christ, the more are 
converted. If a perplexed mind should ask why 
God did not give equal light to the human race, 
the answer is, "The parable of the talents must 
explain." If all are judged only according to 
their light, and the use they have made of it, who 
can charge the Almighty with cruelty ? 



BASIS OF FOREIGN MISSIONS 37 

Christianity demands that we carry the Gospel 
to those who are destitute of it, and light to them 
that sit in darkness, and the more light, the 
greater will be the number of the finally saved. 

"For whosoever shall call upon the name of the 
Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call 
on him in whom they have not believed? and how 
shall they believe in him of whom they have not 
heard? and how shall they hear without a 
preacher? and how shall they preach except they 
be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the 
feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and 
bring glad tidings of good things!" 

Throughout the inspired record, like a solemn 
toll, sounds the insistent refrain, "go pkeach/' 



THE SECOND LECTURE 

METHODS, MEANS, AND MEN OF CHRIS- 
TIAN MISSIONS 



THE SECOND LECTURE 

METHODS, MEANS, AND MEN OF CHRISTIAN 
MISSIONS 

Relative to Foreign Missions the Christian 
world may best be considered in three grand 
divisions: the Latin, or Roman Catholic Church, 
the Greek Church, and the Protestant Church. 

A Sukvey 

In the time of Peter the Great the orthodox 
Greek Church was divided into two bodies, one 
retaining the original name, the other popularly 
called the Russo-Greek Church, which is identi- 
fied in the vast Russian empire. The third 
division is the orthodox Protestant Churches. 
The heterodox Protestant Communions have few 
missions. The words "orthodox" and "heterodox" 
are used here for want of better terms to indicate 
the difference. Those designated "heterodox," 
among other differences, deny the deity of Christ, 
the orthodox relation of His death and sufferings 
to the salvation of mankind, His resurrection, and 
the probationary character of life. 

The Roman Catholic Church has missions in 
every part of the world. Comparatively little 
mission work has been done for the last four 

41 



42 ESSENTIALS OF FOREIGN MISSIONS 

hundred years by the Oriental Churches included 
in the orthodox Greek Church. The Russian 
empire, about two hundred years ago, added the 
whole northern part of Asia ; and the Russian Na- 
tional Church has done a missionary work which, 
though imperfect, is recognized by discriminating 
writers "as one of the most important triumphs 
of the cross in the whole period of modern Mis- 
sions/' The outlying spurs of the movement are 
seen in the Aleutian Islands and Alaska. Nearly 
all the strictly foreign mission work of the Russo- 
Greek Church is in Japan, where it has prospered. 

The missionary enterprises of Protestantism 
for many decades were included in the colonial 
undertakings of the nations which revolted from 
Roman Catholicism. Such were the operations 
of the French reformers in Brazil, Gustavus Vasa 
in Lapland, and of the Dutch East India Com- 
pany (which in one of the articles of its charter 
avowed the purpose of converting the heathen), 
and of the early missionary efforts of England. 
Sir Walter Raleigh dispatched a man of piety to 
Virginia, and money was contributed "in special 
regard and zeal of planting a Christian religion 
in those dark countries." 

In the charter of Charles I to the Massachu- 
setts Company the king's hope was expressed that 
"the colony would win the natives of the country 



METHODS, MEANS, AND MEN 43 

to the knowledge and obedience of the true God 
and Saviour of mankind." A most striking fact 
is the action of the Long Parliament, which passed 
an ordinance July 27, 1649, legalizing "a cor- 
poration for promoting and propagating the 
Gospel of Jesus Christ in New England." 

The Society for Promoting Christian Knowl- 
edge was established two hundred and ten years 
ago, its chief work being the distribution of 
Bibles and other books of Christian doctrine, life, 
and history. 

Three years later was formed "The Society 
for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign 
Parts." The charter granted by William III 
specified that it is "for the purpose of receiving, 
managing, and dispensing of funds contributed 
for the religious instruction of the queen's sub- 
jects beyond the seas, for the maintenance of 
clergymen in the plantations, colonies, and fac- 
tories of Great Britain, and for the propagation 
of the Gospel in those parts." 

General Methods of Organization 

Some Protestant Churches incorporated with 
the State carry on missionary work effectively: 
for example, the Church of England, the Estab- 
lished Church of Scotland, the Lutheran Churches 
in Germany, and the Church of Holland. And 
where there are National Churches, Dissenting, 



44 ESSENTIALS OF FOREIGN MISSIONS 

and Non-Conformists, they enjoy comparative in- 
dependent liberty of action. In free countries there 
are denominations, organized on the principle that 
the smaller branches are governed by central dele- 
gated bodies. Examples of this are the different 
Communions under the Presbyterian form of 
government, the different Methodist denomina- 
tions of the United States, and the United King- 
dom of Great Britain and Ireland. Such are the 
constantly growing Lutheran organizations in this 
country, the most widely known being the General 
Council and the General Synod. 

Other Churches invest the power in the local 
congregation, which is indicated by the name 
"Congregational" ; and the same rule prevails in 
the Baptist collection of Churches, and in the 
large body known as the Disciples of Christ. 

It will be conceded that the principles essential 
to the success of any missionary endeavor are 
substantial unity of doctrine and spirit, for how 
can two "walk together" or work together "except 
they be agreed" ? 

An illustration of the marvelous efficiency of a 
central authority is found in the history of Roman 
Catholic missions. For a hundred and twenty- 
five years, beginning in 1500, they were practi- 
cally unorganized and carried on work independ- 
ently. Unsurpassed heroism and sacrifice of 
life mark that long history, without commen- 



METHODS, MEANS, AND MEN 45 

surate results. Only two years after the Pilgrims 
landed in New England the far-famed Congre- 
gation of the Propaganda was established in 
Rome, and it has entire control of nearly all the 
missionary undertakings of the Roman Catholic 
Church. Its affairs are regulated by the Col- 
lege of the Cardinals, in the center of which have 
sat the successive Popes, preserving a unity in 
operation and a vigor in action which, whatever 
may be thought of its claims and methods, de- 
serves the admiration of the civilized world. 

Efforts to maintain a similar central authority 
have been made by all religious Communions, but 
of necessity have been modified by the radical 
distinctions of government, civil and ecclesiastic. 

The Russo-Greek Church is more closely in- 
corporated with the empire than is any other 
Church with a civil government. The Czar is 
its head; the Holy Synod is an arm alike of the 
religious and secular government, and controls 
the missionary enterprises of the Church, the 
money for their support being appropriated from 
the treasury of the empire. 

The normal order is that in every closely or- 
ganized denomination, and in every State Church, 
missionary undertakings should be managed by 
the Church as the center of authority and di- 
rection. 

This was the plan for many years in all State 



46 ESSENTIALS OP FOREIGN MISSIONS 

Churches, so that it is difficult, to distinguish his- 
torically their purely missionary operations. On 
this account more credit is probably due them for 
missionary work, in the early periods of the 
Reformation, than is generally accorded. 

Yet if there be well-defined radical variance of 
belief or ceremony in the bosom of a State 
Church, it may be far better for Missionary So- 
cieties to operate through corporations. It is ob- 
vious that there are such differences of view in 
the Church of England as to make it impossible 
for those holding them (with the exception of a 
few minds of peculiarly liberal cast or unusual 
adaptive facility) to work together satisfactorily. 

Thoroughly organized denominations uncon- 
nected with the State are managed by their own 
missionary organizations, subject to the highest 
authority in the Church. This they must do to 
secure universal financial sympathy. But such 
support, however, will be dissipated or diverted 
to independent enterprises, and sufficient latent 
ability find means will never be elicited without 
universal pastoral instruction and persuasion. 
This cannot be maintained unless the missionary 
spirit pervades the Church and controls to a high 
degree its legislation on the subject. 

If these principles be true, they must find 
abundant illustration in all organized denomina- 
tions. 



METHODS, MEANS, AND MEN 47 

Confirmation of the Foregoing 

Thus we find the Church Missionary Society, 
founded April 12, 1799, for sending the Gospel 
of Christ to the heathen and to the Moham- 
medan world, whether within or without the do- 
minions of Great Britain. It is strictly a Church 
of England Society, conducted by a patron, vice- 
patron, president, vice-president, and a commit- 
tee. These must be members of the Established 
Church of England or of the Church of Ireland. 
The patron must be a member of the royal family, 
the vice-patron His Grace the Primate of all 
England. The president may be a temporal peer 
or a commoner, and the vice-presidents shall con- 
sist of such archbishops and bishops of the 
Churches of England and Ireland who belong to 
the Society and will accept that office. The com- 
mittee consists of twenty-five lay members of the 
Society, who must be members of the Church of 
England or the Church of Ireland, and of all 
churchmen or clergymen who have been members 
of the Society for at least one year. There are 
other officers ex officio members of the committee. 

Under the authority of the law of the land, the 
bishops of the Church of England ordain and 
send forth the Society's missionaries; and in the 
event of their being appointed by the committee, 
they are to labor on stations within the jurisdic- 



48 ESSENTIALS OP FOREIGN MISSIONS 

tion of a bishop of the Church of England. The 
Society applies to the bishops for licenses, in 
which are specified the districts to which the mis- 
sionaries have been assigned. 

To prevent disturbances between the committee 
and local bishops, all questions that may arise of 
ecclesiastical order and discipline are referred to 
any tribunal having cognizance of the same; but 
if not, they are to be referred to the Archbishops 
of Canterbury and York, who have final au- 
thority. 

The Church Missionary Society, though be- 
longing to the Church of England, has traditions 
as well as laws. "The Church Missionary So- 
ciety is downright evangelical in its traditions, 
and that cannot honestly be said of the whole 
Church of England. Therefore," says the edi- 
torial secretary of the Church Missionary Society 
of London, "it is practically a Society of an ex- 
ceptional character, representing a section of the 
Church. If the bishops or any other great au- 
thorities in Church or State, any authority what- 
ever, were to tell the Church Missionary Society's 
committee, or the Church Missionary Society as 
a body, to do anything contrary to evangelical 
principles, its constituency would rise as one man 
and refuse." 

This seems an admirable arrangement, and no 
doubt accounts very largely for the enthusiasm, 



METHODS, MEANS, AND MEN 49 

immense contributions, and general success of the 
Church Missionary Society. 

Denominations which deposit final authority in 
the local church must cooperate through societies 
created for the purpose by means of boards of 
managers more or less limited in jurisdiction. 
Of these, the most renowned in the Western 
Hemisphere is the American Board of Commis- 
sioners for Foreign Missions, which was organ- 
ized in 1810 by the General Association of Con- 
gregational Ministers of Massachusetts. It was 
professedly undenominational, and in its early 
days was cooperated with by several other de- 
nominations, especially the Presbyterian, but the 
different bodies having gradually formed for them- 
selves missionary societies, it is now left almost 
wholly under the control of the Congregational 
Churches. 

The American Board has conspicuously dem- 
onstrated the possibility of achieving great suc- 
cess by means of what is, to all intents and pur- 
poses, a strictly voluntary organization. 

There is a remarkable similarity between the 
history of this body and that of the London Mis- 
sionary Society, which was originally undenomi- 
national, having been founded by evangelical 
members of the Church of England, Presbyterian 
bodies, and Congregationalists. The London Mis- 



50 ESSENTIALS OF FOREIGN MISSIONS 

sionary Society is fifteen years older than the 
American Board of Commissioners for Foreign 
Missions, and has passed into the hands of Con- 
gregationalists exclusively for the same reason, 
namely, the formation of missionary societies in 
most of the Churches whose members originally 
cooperated with it. These two bodies are among 
the most successful missionary organizations in 
the world. 

Four years after the American Board was 
founded the American Baptist Missionary Society 
was formed. It grew out of the change of senti- 
ment concerning the subjects and mode of bap- 
tism experienced by Adoniram Judson and 
Luther Rice, who had been sent out by the 
American Board. 

For thirty years all the missionary work of 
American Baptists was done through the Baptist 
General Convention, afterward known as the 
Triennial. This gave rise to the establishment 
of the American Baptist Missionary Union, or- 
ganized in 1846. It is composed of delegates, 
but the real business is done by a Board of Man- 
agers, of whom one third are elected at each 
annual meeting, and by an Executive Committee 
chosen by this Board. 

As already stated, prior to 1837 the members 
of the Presbyterian Church in the United States 



METHODS, MEANS, AND MEN 51 

cooperated largely with the American Board of 
Commissioners for Foreign Missions. Since then 
it has had its own society, which is incorporated 
in the State of ]STew York. The Act declares that 
the management and disposition of the affairs and 
property of the said Board of Foreign Missions 
of the Presbyterian Church in the United States 
of America shall be vested in twenty-one trustees, 
who shall be appointed from time to time by 
the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church 
in the United States of America, for such terms 
as the Assembly may determine. 

The Board of Foreign Missions reports an- 
nually, and surrenders its entire records to the 
General Assembly for investigation. The General 
Assembly refers the same to a standing commit- 
tee, which body examines the records, and, it 
necessary, mak& a detailed scrutiny of all trans- 
actions. This society is as thoroughly incorpo- 
rated with the Church as is possible, and the re- 
sults of its operation, in unity, receipts, and 
efficiency, are in proportion to the closeness of 
its incorporation. 

In a similar manner the business of the Foreign 
Missions of the Reformed Church in the United 
States is conducted. The powers of the Board of 
Commissioners elected by the General Synod are 
absolute — provided they are not repugnant to the 
Constitution of the United States, the Constitu- 



52 ESSENTIALS OF FOREIGN MISSIONS 

tion of Pennsylvania, or the Constitution of the 
General Synod of the Reformed Church in the 
United States. 

The Missionary Society of the Methodist Epis- 
copal Church is similarly mortised into the body 
and cemented into the life of the Church. Its 
Board of Managers is appointed by the General 
Conference, which invests the Board with powei 
to fill vacancies. The General Conference also 
elects the corresponding secretary, the assistant 
corresponding secretary, the treasurer, and the 
assistant treasurer, and it reserves to itself the 
power of at any time amending the Constitution 
of the Society; and the Act of Incorporation 
given by the State of New York provides that 
the Board of Managers shall be subordinate to 
any directions made or to be made by the said 
General Conference. That body also elects a 
General Missionary Committee which alone has 
power to establish new missions, to close missions, 
and to determine the amount of money which 
shall be appropriated to each mission. The Board 
of Managers by the charter holds all missionary 
property of the Church throughout the world, 
and all specific property of the Church. 

This system had worked so admirably that 
when the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, 
was formed in 1845 it adopted substantially the 
same method. 



METHODS, MEANS, AND MEN 53 

The Wesleyan Missionary Society of England, 
after many individual and local efforts, was or- 
ganized in 1818. Conditions of membership were 
adopted by the Conference, which appoints a com- 
mittee intrusted with the general management of 
the missions and the raising and disbursing of 
money, subject to the general rules and usages of 
the connection. The treasurers and the general 
secretaries are also elected by the Conference, the 
governing body of the denomination. The Wes- 
leyan Methodist Missionary Society has a more 
detailed and comprehensive system of rules for 
the management of Missions throughout the 
Church than can be found elsewhere in Protes- 
tantism. 

The Moravian Church, incorporated in the 
commonwealth of Pennsylvania in 1788, is prac- 
tically a society for propagating the Gospel. Its 
highest body, the General Synod, is composed of 
representatives of all provinces and of missions. 
It elects the Unity's Elders' Conference, which is 
charged with the administration of the missions 
and other joint affairs. The Directing Board is 
responsible to the General Synod of the Unity of 
the Brethren for the whole range of its actions 
and management. 

The Moravians have the credit of being really 
the pioneer non-Roman Catholic mission Church. 
By 1750 they had established more missions than 



54 ESSENTIALS OP FOREIGN MISSIONS 

all other Protestants combined in the preceding 
two hundred years. 

From the nature of the case, undenominational 
and private organizations are independent of the 
government of any one denomination. The China 
Inland Mission is the most conspicuous example 
of this method of missionary labor. It was 
founded by J. Hudson Taylor in 1865, with 
the financial help and cooperation of W. T. Bur- 
ger. Mr. Taylor was, until his death, general 
director, and was assisted by those who, at his 
invitation, were associated with him in the 
conduct of the work. "It is supported by 
the free-will offerings of the Lord's people." 
The directors cannot and do not guarantee any 
fixed amount of support for the missions and 
missionaries. During Hudson Taylor's life 
it was governed by a personal head, as really 
as was Methodism in its early days by Wesley, 
and as the Salvation Army is by William 
Booth. 

In the different organizations of Lutherans in 
the United States various methods obtain in the 
management of Missionary Societies, some not 
radically different from those already described; 
others come properly under a different classifi- 
cation. 

An examination of the Constitutions of Ger- 
man and Scandinavian Protestant missions r& 



METHODS, MEANS, AND MEN 55 

veals no methods of organizing missions which 
do not exist elsewhere. 

A comparison of the charters, constitutions, 
by-laws, and reports of the principal societies in 
Great Britain, Ireland, and Canada, the conti- 
nent of Europe, and the United States abundantly 
justifies the following generalizations : 

Conditions of Success 

The success of boards of foreign missions sub- 
ordinate to religious Communions depends upon 
the selection and revision of executive boards. 
Rich men who give nothing but money, and rich 
men who give nothing but counsel, and poor men 
who give nothing but attendance on board meet- 
ings, can do little except to aid in making a 
quorum. Men of substance who give sympathy, 
counsel, intelligent scrutiny, and money; poor 
men who bring wisdom in counsel, and vigilance, 
and give according to the gifts of God to them, 
and men who are neither rich nor poor, but com- 
petent and interested, should compose a majority 
of every such board. Assemblies, conferences, 
councils, conventions, or synods should not be 
content with the perfunctory reference of the re- 
ports of missionary boards to a committee who 
will approve indiscriminately and recommend a 
rising vote of thanks. 

In the denominations,, which from the nature of 



56 ESSENTIALS OP FOREIGN MISSIONS 

their government must work through societies 
formed for the purpose, more importance should 
be attached to the competency of the commis- 
sioners or managers than to popular oratory — -al- 
though that gift is to be greatly valued if con- 
nected with the stable qualities necessary for 
security. 

The reflex influence of the board upon the de- 
nomination is powerful according to the work and 
personality of the managers and their secretaries. 
If it may energize, it may also paralyze. Boards 
as servants and guides give the best results; 
boards as tyrants are shackles. 

Some societies, depending on one or two in- 
dividuals, have done and still are doing good, 
though a large majority have failed, and others 
have wasted many thousands of the Lord's money 
ivhile boasting of the superiority of their methods 
over those of other churches. 

In general, the only communicants of Chris- 
tian Churches who can consistently support un- 
denominational societies are those who conscien- 
tiously and regularly support the missionary work 
of their own religious Communion. 

Financial Problems and Property Titles 

Comparatively few in the churches comprehend 
the responsibilities of boards of management. 
Only a minority of business establishments can 



METHODS, MEANS, AND MEN 57 

compare in details, difficulties, and contingencies 
with those of Missionary Boards. They fix the 
salaries and determine the work of all employees ; 
hold the deeds of all property; are liable to be 
sued, and are frequently compelled to sue. They 
receive bequests, frequently involving vexatious 
conditions; hold deeds of all property throughout 
the world; and are compelled to sit in judgment 
upon transactions conducted in foreign languages 
and under legal restrictions unknown to their 
thought and practice. They accept or refuse the 
offer of annuities; and, therefore, must consider 
whether the principal will afford the interest 
promised, or, if not, whether the health and age 
of the person to whom the interest is paid is likely 
to consume or greatly diminish the principal. On 
them also is the responsibility of seeing that those 
which are accepted are sacredly guarded, and the 
annuitants promptly paid. 

To protect their important properties in 
foreign lands the title must rest in boards of trus- 
tees in the home country. Only thus can foreign 
nations be compelled to indemnify missions for 
the destruction suffered by the failure of their 
government to protect them against riot and 
rapine, or its complicity in the same. The de- 
struction caused by the Boxer attacks upon mis- 
sions is an object lesson in connection with this 
part of the responsibilities of the Board. 



58 ESSENTIALS OP FOREIGN MISSIONS 

These bodies must make the appropriations for 
the year. They are, in truth, "faith" institu- 
tions; their members have faith in the Church, 
the stability of their country's finances, and the 
providence of God. They must superintend the 
raising of funds early in the fiscal year, or im- 
mediately before it begins. 

There are those who proclaim loudly that 
they "depend wholly upon God and never ask any- 
one to give." But that very proclamation is a 
subtle form of begging, resembling the incon- 
sistency of a beggar who plants himself upon the 
front steps of a mansion, saying to all that pass 
by, "I will never ask for food, but unless some one 
gives it to me I shall die of starvation." 

In view of the fact that they have not in hand 
the money which will make good the appropria- 
tions, Missionary Boards must have credit at the 
banks and means of securing those banks. Credit 
depends, in considerable part, upon the amount 
and kind of property that the Society owns — its 
reputation for good management and a trust- 
worthy constituency. 

It is necessary for a large Missionary Society 
to own property, to keep it in repair, and to in- 
vest the moneys that are constantly coming in. 
But the funds annually raised for Missions are 
not, as are the revenues of the country, brought 



METHODS, MEANS, AND MEN 59 

in under the threat of the sale of their property if 
they do not pay their taxes, or as fraternal so- 
cieties secure their funds. From the widow's 
mite to the resources of wealthy members of the 
Church all that the Missionary Society receives 
is a free gift, which may be larger or smaller, ac- 
cording to the ability of the donor or his caprice. 
When the death of the head of a family occurs, 
and a large estate is divided among the widow 
and children, even though all continue to support 
in some degree the missionary cause, the sum total 
is generally less than that given by the head of the 
family in his lifetime. Panics also unfavorably 
affect the gifts of employers, and more so those of 
employees, and strikes and lockouts have a mar- 
velously shrinking effect upon missionary col- 
lections. 

Vital Elements 

But more difficult is the selection of mis- 
sionaries, the determining their salaries, the 
length of their vacations, their superannuation, 
their furloughs, provision for their families, the 
settling of feuds in missions, and the removing of 
missionaries. This consumes a vast amount of 
time, and requires investigation by correspond- 
ence, and not unfrequently by an expensive visit 
to the field by a secretary or a special commis- 
sioner. It is apparent that the raising of funds 



60 ESSENTIALS OF FOREIGN MISSIONS 

for Missionary Societies requires a rare com- 
bination of abilities and endless perseverance. 

Pastors must be the most prominent agents; 
and if the missionary cause were the only one 
which they were obliged to present to their con- 
gregations, the task would be comparatively easy. 
But when, upon an average, they are obliged to 
exhort the people to make contributions to as 
many causes as there are months in the year, to 
say nothing of special emergencies, their vocabu- 
lary and their voices become monotonous. The 
missionary secretaries and the boards must sup- 
plement through various agencies ordinary 
sources of information and stimulus. In England 
it is not uncommon for a clergyman to ask one 
of his brethren to deliver the annual missionary 
sermon in his pulpit, compensating him by a 
similar service, each being at home when the 
other presents the cause. Loyalty to the church, 
the effect on the pastor's standing, the dissemi- 
nation of vivid and authentic incidents pertaining 
to the situation must be emphasized. 

And since every philanthropic and religious 
enterprise of importance has an organ, it is neces- 
sary for the Missionary Societies to employ the 
press. A weak organ, like a somnolent speech, is 
worse than silence or blank paper. 

It is very desirable that at least one secretary 
be an eloquent presenter of the cause. It has been 



METHODS, MEANS, AND MEN 61 

said that no merely eloquent man ever produced 
a permanent effect or brought anything of im- 
portance to pass. But, assuming that they have 
common sense, eloquent mem associated with men 
of talent ready for persevering work, may ac- 
complish much. The ideal missionary secretary 
should combine an ingratiating personality, the 
faculty of interesting statement, and at least fair 
ability and judgment for the work of the office. 

Fortunately, the standing and character of sec- 
retaries usually guarantees peace and brotherly 
kindness between them and the committees and 
boards. But as Saul and Barnabas fell into a dis- 
sension which separated them for a time, so there 
may be difficulty which adds to the responsibilities 
and work of the Board. 

The Selection of Missionaries 

Special attention has been attracted of late 
years to the methods of selecting missionaries to 
foreign peoples. In former times difficulties and 
danger prevented the timid from soliciting a place 
upon a missionary staff. Voyages were long, 
salaries small, perils great ; so that, speaking gen- 
erally, only those called of God, or of a very in- 
trepid and adventurous nature, desired the po- 
sition. 

At present a sufficient number can be obtained 
to man the missions. But persons are of all types. 



62 ESSENTIALS OF FOREIGN MISSIONS 

Some have applied for the sake of an excursion; 
under the appeals of a foreign missionary some 
have felt called of God; or the plaintive voice of 
a woman physician describing the dreadful 
scenes with which her profession brings her in con- 
tact may make a similar impression; and some, 
with emotion enough, are without energy, and 
destitute of tact. 

In achieving the college valedictory in the col- 
leges some have lost what may be called external 
energy. Others are already physically ill, yet un- 
aware of it until subjected to the regular medi- 
cal examination. Others are encumbered by 
small children, whose sickness at any time may 
break up the family. Some have every qualifi- 
cation except the gift for acquiring languages; 
and others possess no other qualification than 
that. 

A standard has been advocated in various quar- 
ters which is too high for the average require- 
ments, while some standards are much too low. 
In every large mission there should be several men 
competent to be presidents of seminaries or col- 
leges. The average missionaries in any country 
should be such as could not be sneered at as igno- 
ramuses, satirized as boors, despised as neglect- 
ers of duty, or shunned as intermeddlers with the 
harmless peculiarities of the natives or with mis- 
sions of other denominations. It is essential that 



METHODS, MEANS, AND MEN 63 

each missionary have at least the germs of finan- 
cial success, and necessary to guard against 
acceptance of ministers who have not succeeded 
in whatever pastoral efforts they may have 
made. 

As a principle,, it is wise not to take the gradu- 
ate of a theological seminary or a college who has 
had no experience in a pastorate, unless, indeed, 
he be intended solely or chiefly for a professor- 
ship in an institution. 

The superanuation of missionaries is frequently 
a heartrending process ; to remove them even more 
so. But these, as in all other spheres, are diffi- 
culties which, if not met, will be the source of 
greater trouble. 

Elements of Success in Dealing w^ith ^on- 
Christian Peoples 

Originally the Gospel spread mainly by a sort 
of natural radiation from the centers in which it 
had first been preached. We must not forget 
that the apostles went everywhere. When Paul 
heard the Macedonian cry he did not respond 
that there were many still in the place where he 
then was who had not been brought to Christ ; but 
whatever the apostles taught believers they trans- 
mitted to their heathen neighbors. It is authentic 
history that Celsus spoke scornfully of shoe 
makers and fullers who talked about their doc- 



64 ESSENTIALS OF FOREIGN MISSIONS 

trines in their workshops. During the reign of 
Deems seven missionary bishops left Rome to 
labor in the yet unevangelized parts of Gaul. 
When Constantine and Licinius met at Milan 
early in 313 a curious edict was issued in their 
joint names proclaiming religious toleration to 
all religions, "that so the Deity, or Heavenly Be- 
ing, whatever it is, may be propitious both to our- 
selves and all our subjects." 

Ireland in 493 had become Christian. In 
Britain were two heathen kingdoms of Kent and 
Sussex, and the rest of the island was partly 
Christian and partly Druid. 

The sixth century might be called an age of 
Missions; all followed the example of Paul and 
Silas ; they were courteous, every opportunity was 
utilized, and as soon as any large section was 
Christianized native missionaries seized every ad- 
vantage in surrounding regions. "It may safely 
be affirmed that there are few of the difficulties 
against which missionaries have to contend which 
do not find a parallel in the story of their earlier 
prototypes." 

Celibacy or Matrimony for Missionaries 

It cannot be doubted that Roman Catholic 
enterprises derive great benefit from the enforced 
celibacy of the priests and deacons; whereas the 
illness of a wife or of a child may necessitate long 



METHODS, MEANS, AND MEN 65 

absences from the mission, filling the heart of the 
missionary, who remains, with distracting 
anxiety, there are also many instances when com- 
mon humanity requires the transport of the whole 
family to the homeland. In most mission fields 
the climate has to be reckoned a steady or capri- 
cious enemy of the health of foreigners, and, in 
the aggregate, many missionaries must be located 
far from satisfactory medical facilities. 

The wife of the missionary may never have 
contemplated a removal from the country in 
which her parents reside. When her husband is 
called to the mission field, and entreats her, love 
for him and belief in his call to the work con- 
strains her to go; but her interests are divided. 
Instances have occurred of the refusal of a wife 
to accompany her husband, or to remain after 
reaching the field. 

Should all be sympathy and peace, the question 
of the higher education for the children arises. 
And the later question of the "social realm/' in 
which the sons and daughters may find congenial 
helpmates, without being fully recognized as the 
controlling impulse, doubles the attractive force 
toward the land whence they came. 

The celibate priest can be removed, without 
damage to his working capacity, from one point 
to a very remote one within the bounds of the mis- 
sion to which he was first sent, or to another^ or 



$6 ESSENTIALS OP FOREIGN MISSIONS 

to found a new mission in another part of the 
world, with the least possible expense. 

It is believed by Protestants generally — with 
which I agree — that all these disadvantages are 
countervailed by the presentation of the Christian 
family to polygamist peoples, and to those in which 
women are doomed to assumed inferiority, made 
actual by the refusal to them of education, and 
the privilege of the status of woman, as described 
in the Christian Scriptures. 

Nevertheless, the selection of missionaries re- 
quires surveillance from the beginning: without 
doubt there is sometimes laxity and carelessness 
in examination. 

Young men, early married, with small children, 
are discounted by the facts when they apply 
for the denominational missionary commis- 
sion. In every case the prospective missionary 
and his wife should be subject to medical exami- 
nation, at least as thorough as that demanded for 
life insurance. Among the saddest experiences of 
boards of management is the duty, sometimes 
heart-breaking in its effect upon the subject, of de- 
claring the physical risk too great. 

The spiritual risk, also, has to be taken into 
account. If the wife have no special sympathy 
with the work to which the husband goes, only 
a great emergency would justify his employ- 
ment. 



METHODS, MEANS, AND MEN 67 

In the judgment of many it is desirable to find 
a proportion of missionaries who will forego 
thoughts of matrimony for the cause. It must 
be admitted, however, that in several such cases, 
surrounded by an aureole of splendid spiritual 
heroism, men have met on the field or in the 
families of residents attractions so great as to 
cause them to believe that their efficiency would 
be greatly increased by wedlock. In some in- 
stances missionaries have found themselves so 
lonely as to give the secretaries at home com- 
missions to select for them Christian women de- 
siring the mission field, who, if congenial, would 
marry. Exchanges of photographs supplied the 
only knowledge each received of the other's physi- 
ognomy, and correspondence the only medium of 
communication, until the bride to be arrived on 
the mission field. Sometimes this union has been 
very happy, and the mission and the missionary 
greatly reenforced. Failures, however, placed a 
sense of responsibility upon the missionary secre- 
taries which weighed so heavily upon them that 
this form of mediation has been suffered to sink 
into "innocuous desuetude." 

Individual evangelistic methods are not redu- 
cible to a system of universal application. 

How different the process of Christianizing the 
Fiji Islands, the American Indians, the Eski- 
mos, from that necessary in India, China or Ja- 



68 ESSENTIALS OP FOREIGN MISSIONS 

pan! In all exist the original elements of intel- 
lectual intercourse, moral persuasion and religion, 
human fears and loves. The wildest tribes possess 
will, memory, imagination, reason, conscience, 
the emotions of love and hate. 

A great evolution has taken place in missionary- 
methods in every country where missions have 
long been established. It was at first a hand-to- 
hand moral and intellectual conflict. Signs were 
used before words could be understood. Later, the 
vernacular began to be mastered: missionaries 
stumbled, but, in their stumbling, learned. As 
soon as churches were organized, and Christian 
families arose, schools became necessary ; teachers 
were to be qualified; and next to the school came 
the seminary. But as native preachers and 
teachers were needed, colleges to furnish profes- 
sors for the seminaries were demanded by the 
same forces which have originated them in Chris- 
tian nations. 

Should Converts Be Sent to Christian Lands 
for Education for the Ministry? 

A question of large importance has arisen. 
Should brilliant minds among missionary converts 
be sent to America, England, or Germany for 
education, or should they be trained in institu- 
tions founded by the missions and conducted in 
their native tongues? On this subject no law as 



METHODS, MEANS, AND MEN 69 

fixed as that of the Medes and Persians can 
be made. Certain natives of peculiar tempera- 
ment, grasp of intellect, and notable for prudence 
and caution, may derive great benefit by higher 
education in the land and under the auspices of 
the Church founding the mission. But it would 
be a miracle if the majority could be trusted in 
their youth, at least, to return better qualified for 
the evangelization of their kindred and country- 
men. What must be its effect upon a convert who 
explores the world and comes in close contact with 
all forms of rationalistic unbelief ? In schools, col- 
leges, and theological seminaries supported by the 
very religious Communion which sent out the 
men who, under God, were the means of the con- 
version of these students, some promising young 
men have been practically ruined for Christian 
native ministers and professors. They have been 
injured by pride of knowledge and became ar- 
rogant when among their kindred. 

It would be easy to add to these considerations 
some others worthy of note, but it is hardly neces- 
sary. Whatever may be the wisdom of a century 
later in the evolution of Missions, it may be 
affirmed with adequate foundation that only in 
rare cases should unsophisticated converts from 
other religions, who are useful in the schools estab- 
lished by the missions, be sent to the country which 
maintains the mission. 



70 ESSENTIALS OF FOREIGN MISSIONS 

Special Modern Helps 

Industrial schools are sometimes very valuable ; 
but they are not so if they do not afford an op- 
portunity for religious instruction. In Africa 
they have been found "eminently helpful in giv- 
ing direction to life. . . . They seem to rescue 
young lives from inanity and idleness, and 
give them a start in a career of self-respecting 
usefulness, with the Gospel planted in their 
hearts" (Dennis, on Foreign Missions After a 
Century, p. 234). 

Medical missions are invaluable in almost 
every unchristianized region, and in such unde- 
veloped countries as Mexico and various parts of 
South America. In China, Japan, India, South 
America, and Mexico, as well as in the countries of 
southeastern Europe, they have been of the highest 
efficiency. Where nothing else could open doors 
for evangelization, the medical mission was the 
sesame to Christianity. From the lips of Li 
Hung Chang I received a testimonial as to the 
work and value of the medical missions estab- 
lished by the Methodist Episcopal Church in 
China, so comprehensive and unequivocal as to 
carry conviction to any mind, especially, when in 
his own family he had received an administra- 
tion of relief, which led him to make a large con- 



METHODS, MEANS, AND MEN 71 

tribution to one of the Methodist hospitals. Other 
denominations testify to similar results. Dr. 
Dennis thus covers the whole case: 

"The place of medical work, if done with Chris- 
tian sympathy and tact, and followed up with 
Christian instruction, is vindicated both by the 
example of Christ, and by all experience. In the 
hands of lady physicians it is at present practi- 
cally the only method of reaching the women in 
many heathen communities" (Foreign Missions 
After a Century, pp. 233, 234). I have studied 
these hospitals in operation in various parts of the 
Turkish empire, and seen the Christian Ameri- 
can side by side with the Mohammedan Egyp- 
tian or Arabian. The present method in those 
hospitals is not to force Christianity upon the 
patients, but so to impregnate the social atmos- 
phere with its spirit as to make it understood that 
that spirit is the cause and support of the healing 
benefactions. 

An interesting question has arisen on account 
of the marvelous success of these hospitals in com- 
parison with that of native physicians unin- 
structed in Western surgery and medicine, mental 
and physical. Shall the well-to-do native be ex- 
pected to pay surgeons and physicians for his 
treatment? This has been discussed widely in 
England, and the conclusion seems to be that it 
is better for patients to do so than to have the 



72 ESSENTIALS OP FOREIGN MISSIONS 

impression that the services rendered are of no 
great value, and under the idea that they are ob- 
jects of charity. It would appear, however, that 
unless the patient be willing to pay, it would be 
a hazardous experiment to compel him, as he 
might easily use the fact to the detriment of con- 
fidence in the motives of the missionaries. 

Woek of Women's Societies 

The work of women organized under the va- 
rious women's foreign missionary societies is the 
admiration of all who have seen it. Attention has 
naturally been given in large measure to women 
and children. Its institutions are numerous and 
success great. Its methods are practically the 
same, so far as the work is in common with that 
of the general missionary societies. Many of the 
missionary wives are engaged in its work. Its 
plans of raising money are eminently successful; 
its schools are admirably managed and bounti- 
fully supported. Its work is usually in places 
where there are already missions. Thus they are 
protected, and find in the few instances when they 
come in collision with native authorities the en- 
tire denominational influence ready to support 
them against imposition. 

To the Eev. David Abeel, D.D., an American 
missionary to China, must be conceded the honor 
of suggesting to Christian women the importance 



METHODS, MEANS, AND MEN 73 

of a distinctive mission for heathen women. His 
zeal and eloquence resulted, in 1834, in the or- 
ganization, in England, of the Society for Female 
Education in the East, "and, seconded by the ap- 
peals of Mrs. Francis B. Mason, of Burma, in the 
establishment January 15, 1861, of the Woman's 
Union Missionary Society for Heathen Lands." 
These are the pioneers of women's organized dis- 
tinctive work for women. In that Missionary 
Society women of six denominations composed its 
membership; it stood alone for eight years; then 
the Woman's Board of Missions (Congregational) 
of Boston was organized. The Woman's Foreign 
Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church was organized in March, 1869. An Eng- 
lishman writes: 

"The reports of women's societies in the old 
country seldom have anything to say of the chil- 
dren's part in the modern missionary crusade; 
but in the United States and Canada they are a 
great factor. The children are organized into 
bands, of which they are themselves officers. . . . 
One of the first momentous duties of a band is to 
name itself, and the English language has been 
explored for the purpose. There are the Carrier 
Doves and Lookout Guards, Snowflakes and May- 
flowers, Busy Bees, Steady Streams, Mustard 
Seeds, King's Cadets, Up and Beadys, Little 
Lights, Pearl Seekers, Acorns, The Drum Corps, 



74 ESSENTIALS OF FOREIGN MISSIONS 

Do What You Can Band, and so on, in endless 
variety." 

In manning schools, colleges, universities, and 
medical missions it is vital that presidents, pro- 
fessors, and all in authority shall be Christians. 
They need not, in every case, be of the Communion 
supporting the institutions, but, they should be 
unmistakably Christian, in faith, spirit, and con- 
duct; for one agnostic or frivolous talker upon 
spiritual things can not only work much evil but 
vitiate much good. 

Christ's Method of Approach Not Outwore 

It is almost universally conceded that the meth- 
ods of Christ and the apostles are, in essence, not 
only safe models for missionaries but the most 
fruitful. Our Lord spoke with an authority that 
astonished all, and supported it by miracles. The 
apostles also had the power of working miracles, 
yet though there is a marked difference between 
our Lord's manner in approaching men, and the 
apostles themselves recognized His absolute com- 
mand, there is in their manner the manifestation 
of a consciousness of authority given to them by 
our Lord. 

What can be more uncompromising than the 
address of Peter to his countrymen on the day of 
Pentecost? Yet it is interspersed by such pas- 



METHODS, MEANS, AND MEN 75 

sages as, "Men and brethren, let me freely speak 
unto you of the patriarch David" ; and, again, 
"For the promise is unto you, and to your chil- 
dren, and to all that are afar off"; and, again, 
"And now, brethren, I wot that through igno- 
rance ye did it, as did also your rulers." Stephen 
was stern, fearfully so at times, as was Christ, for 
such holy indignation is needed. 

How beautiful is the conversation of Philip 
with the eunuch, how pertinent that of Ananias 
with Paul, and of Peter with Cornelius; of Paul 
and Barnabas among the Greeks ; and Paul's man- 
ner and words before Felix and Festus, and, above 
all, Agrippa ; and what dignity, approaching 
majesty, of the speech to the philosophers at 
Athens! The Epistles show clear penetration 
and sound judgment in determining the best 
method of inducting men into the knowledge and 
life of Christ. 

The best summary thereof in the fewest words 
is in the Appendix to the remarkable volume en- 
titled Islam and Christianity in India and the 
Far East, by Dr. E. M. Wherry, for thirty years 
missionary of the Presbyterian Church in India. 
This work comprises the Student Lectures on Mis- 
sions at Princeton Theological Seminary for 
1906-07. I quote some of his maxims, omitting 
his comments: 

"Religious controversy on missionary ground 



76 ESSENTIALS OP FOREIGN MISSIONS 

is attended by serious evils, such as the arousing 
of prejudice, the possible strengthening of con- 
viction in error, and the creation of a party 
spirit." But, "properly conducted, it emphasizes 
the points of difference between the true and the 
false, serves to fix the truth in minds open to 
doubt, makes necessary a definite statement of 
principles involved, and calls popular attention to 
the questions under discussion." 

To prevent the evils controversy should not be 
carried on in the open bazaar. "The men who are 
ever ready to debate in such a place are hardly 
ever men who seek to know the truth." Nor 
should it be allowed in the course of a chapel 
service. Let the chapel service be held sacred to 
the cause of Christian preaching. 

]STor should controversy be indulged during a 
personal call. "A social call should be made to 
serve the interests of good will and friendship." 
The subject of religion should not be tabooed, for 
such a call may afford the best opportunity for 
religious converse; but that is different from a 
debate "which may degenerate into offensive 
speech which would break asunder the ties of 
friendship." "The least sign of angry feeling 
should be the sign to stop." If the missionary 
gives way to anger, he "has practically been de- 
feated." "No point should ever be discussed un- 
til it has been definitely stated." No trivial ques- 



METHODS, MEANS, AND MEN 77 

tion should be discussed. "Whenever the opposi- 
tion fails to disclose a serious desire to learn or 
maintain what he believes to be the truth, debate 
should be declined." "Never should subjects be 
discussed in public if they are calculated to arouse 
angry passion; but religious discussion may be 
held at any time and at any place fixed upon by 
mutual consent." It should be on a subject pre- 
viously announced and clearly defined, "and 
never be undertaken unless there is a reasonable 
hope that it can be conducted in a calm and dis- 
passionate manner." "In dealing with Moham- 
medans, Buddhists, Confucianists, success de- 
pends, first of all, upon very careful preparation. 
The missionary, lay or clerical, should always pre- 
serve a good temper and a serious mood." "It is 
all-important to give one's opponent full oppor- 
tunity to express his views." "In religious con- 
troversy argument should, as far as possible, be 
based on the Bible and the books which opponents 
regard as sacred or authoritative." 

Dr. Wherry emphasizes some plain rules which 
are as applicable to all countries, languages, re- 
ligions, nations, and every possible kind of dis- 
cussion: "Be sure of your opponent's position. 
Be fair to your opponent. Hold fast to the main 
issue. Always avoid any appearance of joy or ex- 
ultation over the defeat or perplexity of an ad- 
versary." 



78 ESSENTIALS OP FOREIGN MISSIONS 

He gives special cautions to Christians conduct- 
ing discussions by the pen: "The writer should 
be respectful in language and address, and should 
be sympathetic." The other is a fine lesson for 
all religious controversial writers: "Let all mat- 
ters be presented in a discursory manner. The 
danger of the average writer is that he will de- 
stroy the influence of his writing by assuming a 
dogmatic style. But if we discuss all sides of the 
question at issue, stating as strongly as pos- 
sible the positions claimed by our opponent 
and meeting by anticipation his argument, we 
not only secure a better hearing — or, rather, 
reading — but we forestall any charge of un- 
fairness or one-sidedness in argument. Every 
advance in argument should be made in a schol- 
arly manner, demolishing the enemy's defenses as 
we go, and building upon their ruins the edifice 
of Christian truth." 

These directions were not all originally con- 
ceived by Dr. Wherry, for some of them were en- 
forced upon us by instructors long since deceased. 
We have substantially quoted from him because 
some of his suggestions are purely original, and 
also for the purpose of presenting his testimony re- 
garding the dangers, the benefits, and the methods 
of religious controversy in non-Christian lands. 

It may seem incongruous to close this important 
part of the subject by a quotation from Con- 



METHODS, MEANS, AND MEN 79 

fucius, but it is pertinent. "If you do not learn 
the rules of propriety, your character cannot be 
established. ... If you are grave, you will not 
be treated with disrespect; if you are generous, 
you will win all; if you are sincere, people will 
repose trust in you; if you are earnest, you will 
accomplish much ; if you are kind, this will enable 
you to employ the services of others." 



THE THIRD LECTURE 

A JUDICIAL COMPARISON OF CIRCUM- 
STANCES UNFAVORABLE AND FAVOR- 
ABLE TO PRESENT-DAY FOREIGN 
MISSION WORK 



81 



THE THIRD LECTURE 

HINDRANCES AND HELPS TO MISSIONS 

The aim of this lecture is to make a judicial 
comparison between circumstances favorable and 
unfavorable to present mission work. 

Eleven Grievous Obstacles 
One evil is the nonattendance, except at rare in- 
tervals, of a proportion of members of boards. 
These are frequently the busiest of men, and often 
the best qualified to give advice upon the numerous 
and complex financial problems. A distinguished 
layman of 'New York, director in several cor- 
porations and banking institutions, and the head 
of a manufacturing concern employing four 
thousand operatives, finding that he was neglect- 
ing the missionary interest, while much attached 
to it, determined upon placing meetings of the 
Board of Managers on his list of regular engage- 
ments ; and from that time to the close of his life 
found no more difficulty in being present there 
than at institutions more closely allied to his per- 
sonal and pecuniary enterprises, and he was no 
less faithful to the latter than before. 

Another evil is the tendency of boards to in- 
volve the Society in debt, which is usually brought 

83 



84 ESSENTIALS OF FOREIGN MISSIONS 

about in the following way: Some prominent 
member or officer becomes especially interested in 
a particular mission, and proposes a great advance 
in the appropriations. Then the friends of that 
mission and the advocates of an advance along the 
entire line, unite; the conservatives speak, but 
their efforts to put on the brakes are not as strong 
or persuasive as that of those whose refrain is, 
"Can't you trust God ?" and by a majority all the 
indications of a financial storm are ignored. 

Occasionally, another serious danger is that 
women's societies may draw too heavily on the 
common reservoir of the Church's wealth and will- 
ingness. Instances have occurred where in local 
churches the Woman's Foreign Missionary So- 
ciety has secured more than the General Society, 
and the glory of this has incited others to similar 
effort; so that it comes to pass that a score of 
earnest women will visit every member of the 
church, while there is no agency adequate to that 
for the work for the General Missionary Society. 

Another disturbing element is the constant pres- 
ence of missionaries at home on furlough or des- 
ignated to visit the churches soliciting funds for 
special missions. To a certain degree this is an 
excellent custom, and guards have been put in 
operation to prevent loss to the Board by credit- 
ing gifts for special purposes to such churches 



HINDRANCES AND HELPS TO MISSIONS 85 

only as have raised the amount apportioned to 
them for the general work of the Board. 

But if money which would naturally have gone 
to the Society is drawn away from it, every dol- 
lar so secured for special gifts affects every other 
mission. Designated gifts are especially valuable 
by uniting the giver more closely to the work. 
Such gifts have frequently been the cause of open- 
ing new missions and of stimulating growth in 
those established, and even preventing the closing 
of a promising field for want of funds. Properly 
guarded, with the members of the denomination 
sufficiently educated to decide wisely, and so de- 
voted to Missions as a whole as to judge with the 
heart as well as the head, they are to be recognized 
as most useful. But positive knowledge of the 
evils suggested demands a reference to them in 
connection with this phase of the subject. 

Another unfavorable element is that of religious 
denominations undertaking to till a field dispro- 
portionate to their resources, or to establish new 
missions when those already in operation are in- 
adequately supported. It has repeatedly happened 
that a zealous but ill-informed philanthropist pro- 
posed a mission a thousand miles from another 
of the same denomination, and offered to give a 
considerable sum to establish it ; great enthusiasm 
has been aroused, and a new mission begun in a 



86 ESSENTIALS OF FOREIGN MISSIONS 

part of the world where results could not posi- 
tively be expected for many years. As a result 
the Church must consider whether to close the 
mission or divert moneys from growing missions 
for the benefit of a losing venture. 

A large proportion of professing Christians 
still do not recognize their responsibility for the 
conversion of the world. Many churches and 
many ministers still maintain an indifferent atti- 
tude; a minority of these openly declare that it 
is the business of the Church to evangelize its 
own territory before taking any action for "out- 
side peoples/' The Abyssinian king, Menelik, 
who adopted this one-sided reasoning might be ex- 
cused, but not Christians having access to the 
Bible and conversant with the history of Chris- 
tianity. A Swedish missionary who was endeav- 
oring to gain a foothold in Abyssinia was taken 
before King Menelik, who asked him why he had 
left his home in Scandinavia to come to Abyssinia. 
The missionary replied that he had come to con- 
vert the Abyssinian Jews. "Are there no Jews in 
your country?" asked Menelik. The missionary 
admitted that there were a few. "And in all the 
countries that you have passed through did you 
find no Jews or heathen?" Jews and heathen, 
the missionary admitted, abounded. "Then," said 
Menelik to his guards, "carry this man beyond the 



HINDRANCES AND HELPS TO MISSIONS 87 

frontier, and let him not return until he has con- 
verted all the Jews and heathen who lie between 
his country and mine." 

To some this seems the logic of anti-foreign 
missions, and they say that Menelik pene- 
trated to the core of the matter. But those who 
think so have much to learn of the causes of the 
spread of Christianity. 

Had Paul converted to Christianity all the 
Jews and pagans when the men of Macedonia in 
the vision cried, "Come over and help us" ? And 
had our Lord made Himself known to all in the 
regions which he visited before he departed for 
others, how many hundred years would the British 
Islands have remained in paganism? How long 
would it have been before the Irish would have 
been Christianized had not Saint Patrick left his 
country to exalt them through his wonderful ser- 
mons and singing? 

"Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel 
to every creature" was the divine injunction. 
Leaving converts made in one place to propagate 
the work there while the evangelist or missionary 
goes farther has been the Gospel principle, and 
by it Christianity is spread. The Abyssinians are 
Christians, but their early history would show 
that had the people who came to bring the Gospel 
to them waited till all in their own countries and 
all between their countries and Abyssinia had been 



88 ESSENTIALS OF FOREIGN MISSIONS 

converted, Menelik would be a pagan or a Moham- 
medan. 

The Macedonian cry was promptly responded to 
by Paul, and, indeed, all his travels and those of 
the other apostles show that they did not attempt 
to bring about the conversion of all in the vicinity 
where they first began to preach : on the contrary, 
when they had established a small church and in- 
structed its members, they passed on to other 
regions, not merely entering open doors but open- 
ing them. By these means light radiated in all 
directions from every center, and in time illumi- 
nated whole nations. 

Misrepresentations, never ending, of mission- 
ary work in foreign lands are made by transient 
travelers who, without looking for missions, de- 
clare that they have found none; or that they in- 
quired diligently and could not discover a con- 
verted heathen who was not in the pay of the 
missions; or that they attended mission services 
and that few were present, making no inquiries 
concerning other forms of reaching the people. 
Others still, not comprehending the necessity of 
what is called the "compound" in China, a section 
where all the missionary buildings stand, magnify 
the size and number of the buildings, and accuse 
the missionaries with despising the natives, to 
prove it adducing the fact of their dwelling to- 



HINDRANCES AND HELPS TO MISSIONS 89 

gether. Business agents associating with wealthy 
merchants in non-Christian lands frequently re- 
ceive from them unfavorable impressions. Some- 
times commercial and diplomatic agents on the 
ground, whose lives there differ materially from 
their reputations maintained at home, conceive a 
malignant animosity to missionaries. Not a few 
newspapers in every Christian country with 
avidity take up such misrepresentations, and often 
magnify them. 

The imprudences of various missionaries, and 
the occasional grave misconduct of one, adds fuel to 
the flame of scandal, for it is noticeable that, while 
the account of the misdemeanor is conspicuously 
displayed, the discipline of the Church, which 
comes later, is scarcely ever mentioned. Those who 
have made misrepresentations and been exposed 
rarely acknowledge their error, and when they do 
so they do not repair the damage, for more have 
seen the false allegation than will see the recan- 
tation; and human nature, with rare exceptions, 
has a better memory for accusations than for 
denials. 

Various forms of imprudence are sometimes 
committed that cannot be called immoral. For 
example, some missionaries from England went to 
Cairo, and one was so unwise as to enter a Mo- 
hammedan mosque and preach to the natives, 



90 ESSENTIALS OF FOREIGN MISSIONS 

which inevitably stirred up trouble. Others em- 
ploy ridicule, are ill-tempered in controversy, and 
aggressive. 

That the wisest missionaries, in their early 
experiences, fell into methods which were ineffec- 
tive and were thrown away, is seen in the admir- 
ably frank acknowledgment of Bishop Thoburn 
at the Convention in Toronto, Canada, in 1902 : 

I will say one or two things that will surprise you. 
Do not preach against idolatry. Do not preach against 
the Mohammedan religion. Never preach against any 
religion as a religion, for you merely shut up the hearts 
of the people who hear you, without accomplishing any 
good purpose. I am speaking now from experience, for 
if I could recall a thousand sermons I have preached, 
I would gladly do it. Never ridicule the religious prac- 
tices or ideas of the people; that was not our Master's 
course in this world. But, on the other hand, take that 
which is common to all religion. 

Do not understand, however, that I think that which 
is common to all religions is going to save the world. 
You can always assume, as I have found wherever I 
have been, that there is a Supreme Being. Nobody ever 
denies His existence, unless he has been educated into 
that form of unbelief; and, generally, the people who 
are atheists at the present time are found in England, 
or America, or Prance, or places where they have been 
educated into that form of belief. Instinctively, if you 
point to the mountains and the stars and the forests and 
say, "God made all these, ,, the people will agree with 
you. But you can put it in such language that they 
will contradict you. I did not know enough to avoid 
contradiction in earlier days, but I think for the last 
twenty years in India I never was contradicted by any- 



HINDRANCES AND HELPS TO MISSIONS 91 

one in public. In earlier days I was rather proud of 
the fact that I could debate for two hours at a time 
with learned Hindus or Mohammedans, but in later 
years when appealing to their hearts, after giving them 
my message, I would say to them: "This is not my 
word at all; I am giving you a message from God. 
While I am doing it His Spirit is making you feel in 
your hearts that what I say is true; and if there is a 
man here who does not believe that I have been speak- 
ing the truth as God has given it to me, I wish he would 
speak up and tell me." Never has anyone done it; 
but if I were to say that Jesus Christ is the Eternal 
Son of God, or that the Koran was false, there would 
be a dozen Mohammedans on their feet to contradict 
me at once. God prepares the way of the people, and 
when you go among them you should always go as a 
witness of Jesus Christ. Always tell them that you 
know Him, that He comes with you, that He sends you. 
Tell them of His love, of His power to save; tell them 
of the world to which He will take them when life's 
journey is over, and make it all practical (World-Wide 
Evangelization, p. 143). 

National politics is still an impediment to the 
success of Missions. Since Dr. Dennis empha- 
sized this fact at length various illustrations of the 
truth of his setting forth have been seen, of which 
the Boxer uprising and their treatment of Chris- 
tian Missions is the most conspicuous illustration. 
But it is still true that "mission work has to be 
carried on frequently in countries which are un- 
der the political or commercial control of a foreign 
government, and in such instances it is occasion- 
ally true that there is a serious conflict of interest 



92 ESSENTIALS OF FOREIGN MISSIONS 

between the government on the one hand and the 
aim of Missions on the other." 

At the present time such difficulties do not stand 
out so universally and aggressively as they did 
twenty years ago, when the labor traffic in Ma- 
laysia and the Pacific Islands, and the Kanaka 
traffic among the Islands of Polynesia for the 
supply of laborers upon the sugar plantations of 
Queensland, were factors. They were then little else 
than an organized system of slavery on a large 
scale, as was seen in the case of Chinese coolies at 
Singapore, which is a distributing center for the 
Malaysian Islands. At that time, too, the trade 
in intoxicants and firearms in the New Hebrides, 
the oppressive policy of the Dutch in Java, the 
rum traffic and slave trade in Africa, and what 
is called the liquor traffic in India were in full 
and disgraceful action. In various places the ten- 
sion has been much alleviated, but such situations 
are still great obstacles. 

One of the most deplorable deterrents to accept- 
ing Christianity is the confusion of mind pro- 
duced by the presentation of so many sects en- 
deavoring to Christianize the same races. For 
example, the Greek, the Arminian, and Coptic 
Churches exhibit no respect for the efforts of 
Presbyterians, Baptists, Congregationalists, Lu- 
therans, Methodists, and the Church of England; 



HINDRANCES AND HELPS TO MISSIONS 93 

and the High Church party of the Church of Eng- 
land frequently, though by no means always, dis- 
parage or ignore the work of other religious bodies. 
As a rule, in mission lands Roman Catholics 
are unqualified opponents of Protestant Missions. 
They are not content "simply to push their own 
work side by side with evangelical agencies, but 
they wage war upon Protestant Missions," and 
seek to render them unpopular and make it im- 
possible to succeed. One who has had ample op- 
portunity to know, declares that "in many 
countries they are able to count upon the sym- 
pathy, and even the practical aid, of the govern- 
ment, native or foreign; but in other lands, as in 
China, Japan, and India, they are diligent and 
active in using every available resource to ac- 
complish their purpose." 

Buddhism 
Certain idiosyncrasies of each race, and one or 
more of the peculiarities of their ancestral re- 
ligions, make it difficult to reach the people and 
to substitute the Christian religion for their own. 
For example, in Siam the most formidable ob- 
stacle which confronts the missionaries grows di- 
rectly out of Buddhism. The people consider that 
no matter how bad a man may be, nor how profli- 
gate he may have been, he can be absolved by 
building a temple or by ministering to the priests, 



94 ESSENTIALS OF FOREIGN MISSIONS 

and, consequently, they feel no need for Chris- 
tianity. While the priesthood is entirely sup- 
ported by the government, priests actually derive 
their subsistence from the people. The priests 
have unbounded influence over them. "They go 
about with their rice-pots, and receive contribu- 
tions, and so terrorize the people that it is really 
at the peril of their property and of their lives- 
that they refuse them." G. W. Hamilton, D.D., 
says that the grandmothers of the country are 
great obstacles. Many young men who are re- 
ceiving instruction in mission schools are gradu- 
ally drawn away from heathen customs and 
ways of thinking. They learn that there is 
more for them in the religion of Christ than 
the priests have to offer. Then they go back to 
their homes, "encounter the autocrat of the house- 
hold, the grandmother," and her influence in- 
variably does much to counteract the good which 
the missionaries try to exert. 

Confucianism 

Confucianism is hardly a religion, yet it pos- 
sesses the minds of hundreds of millions, in whose 
breasts are the same spiritual capacities as are pos- 
sessed by others. In every city of China, down 
to those of a third rank, there are temples dedi- 
cated to Confucius, and all, including the emperor, 
offer him religious homage, although he never 



HINDRANCES AND HELPS TO MISSIONS 95 

claimed supernatural origin. Scented gums and 
frankincense, tapers and sandalwood are burned 
on his altars; fruit, wine, and flowers are placed 
before a tablet on which is inscribed, "O Con- 
fucius, our revered master, let thy spiritual part 
descend and be pleased with this our respect which 
we now humbly offer to thee." He taught that "all 
men should worship the spirits of their ancestors, 
but to go beyond the circle of one's family and 
worship even departed great ones was simply flat- 
tery and wholly unauthorized; that so far as the 
worship of heaven is concerned, it should be per- 
formed by the emperor alone, but for himself and 
as the representative of the people; but that all, 
from the emperor down to the meanest, should ob- 
serve the worship of their ancestors." So firmly 
rooted are these teachings in the minds of the 
Chinese that they can hardly accept precepts from 
other sources. While the followers of Confucius 
are not conscious of any lack in his teachings, it 
has been well said that "it does not make full pro- 
vision for any one of the permanent elements of 
religion — dependence, fellowship, and progress." 

In Japan the difficulty most often met among 
the intellectual class is rationalism and material- 
ism. "Their minds are void of all those ideas 
which cluster around the personality of God." 
Missionaries declare that the ordinary Japanese 



96 ESSENTIALS OP FOREIGN MISSIONS 

will agree to almost everything one says with re- 
gard to the Gospel of Jesus Christ ; he will admit 
that it is good and that his country ought to have it, 
but he has no desire to make a personal applica- 
tion of it to his own heart and life. 

The business methods of that country have been 
frequently criticized, and with reason, but they 
are improving. A missionary in that field about 
seven years ago testified that he was talking with 
a young business man, and said to him that if he 
were faithful and honest under all circumstances, 
he would surely be promoted. He replied : "You 
think so, teacher, but that is not true. Unless I 
fall in line with the practices of the business house 
with which I am connected, unless I use bribery 
under certain circumstances, and do things in ac- 
cord with the policy of the house, I never can be 
promoted. There is no hope for me." This, un- 
fortunately, could be paralleled in Christian 
countries, and whenever the Japanese come in 
contact with anything of the kind it is natural for 
them to draw the conclusion that in practical ex- 
perience Christianity is no better as a religion 
than their own. 

Mohammedanism 

Mohammedanism is the most difficult opponent 
of Christianity and its missions and missionaries. 
There are many millions more of the followers of 



HINDRANCES AND HELPS TO MISSIONS 97 

Mohammed than there are Christians in all the 
Protestant Churches on the earth. 

Why is it that they are so unconquerable, so 
unpersuadable, and so active? There are many 
elements in their religion and in themselves all 
building up a type of manhood and of religion un- 
like any other peoples. But the greatest preserver 
of their religion is the emphasis placed by the 
prophet on prayer. 

The second of the five pillars of practical re- 
ligion in Islam is prayer. The prophet said to 
the followers, "Seek help from God with prayer 
and patience." The five periods of prayer are: 
(1) from dawn to sunrise; (2) when the sun be- 
gins to decline from its meridian; (3) midway 
between noon and sunset; (4) a few minutes after 
sunset; (5) and when the night has closed in. 
There are also three voluntary periods of prayer 
between nightfall and midnight, which are scrupu- 
lously observed by the devout. 

The ceremony at the mosque is, indeed, im- 
pressive. When the sections of prayer are ended 
"the worshiper kneels on the ground with his left 
foot bent under him, and placing his hands on his 
knees recites with a long and reverent voice the 
tahiyah: 'The adorations of the tongue, and of the 
body and of almsgiving are all of God. Peace be 
on thee, O prophet, and may the mercy and bless- 
ing of God be with thee.' Then, raising the first 



98 ESSENTIALS OP FOREIGN MISSIONS 

finger of the right hand, he gives his 'testimony' in 
these words : 'I testify that there is no god but God, 
and that Mohammed is His servant and messen- 
ger!' He then devoutly offers the following 
prayer : 'O Lord God, give us the blessings of this 
life, and of the life to come ! Save us from hell V 
Two angels are supposed to stand, one on the right 
hand and the other on the left, and before the 
worshiper rises from his knees he gives the salu- 
tation of peace, first to the right hand and then 
to the left, and afterward offers prayers and sup- 
plications according to his own special needs." 

Hughes, the author of the Dictionary of Islam, 
writes: "This tedious and prolonged form of 
worship is with slight variations recited in every 
mosque of Islam all over the world, from the fret- 
ted aisles of San Sophia to the sandy floor of some 
humble praying place on the Sahara." With the 
average Mohammedan they are little more than 
vain repetitions; but, according to Mr. Hughes 
and to many testimonies, "it is this life of con- 
stant prayer which retains its mighty hold on Mo- 
hammedan peoples and enables them to defy 
every attempt of Christianity to convert them." 
Dean Stanley concerning this "vain repetition" 
says that the prayers among the Mohammedans are 
"reduced to a mechanical act as distinct from a 
mental act, beyond any ritual observances in the 
West. It resembles the worship of a machine 



HINDRANCES AND HELPS TO MISSIONS 90 

rather than of reasonable beings." "This may be 
so/' says Mr. Hughes, "but my twenty years' con* 
stant observance of mosque worship convinced me 
that it exerts an enormous power over the minds 
of the people, and is the one restraining influence 
among those savage and semisavage people who 
acknowledge Mohammed as the 'messenger' of the 
living God." 

Mohammedanism is to-day Christianity's strong- 
est rival. Prebendary Fox, of London, says : 

"There is a Mohammedan university in the 
world, larger than any Christian university, 
whose students come from a wider area than those 
in any college in this Christian land. The Uni- 
versity of Al Azhar draws its students from India 
on the east to the western shores of Africa." 

As I stood before the doors of that singular 
building and saw the hundreds of students going 
to and fro I felt that among them there must be 
great numbers of Moslem missionaries, and later 
discovered that most of them served in that ca- 
pacity. 

Mohammedanism is spreading down the Niger 
and the Congo, and throughout all Africa, taking 
the place of the degraded religions of animism or 
fetishism as any superior must, thus creating a 
greater obstacle to Christianity. 

The Christian world has by no means done its 
duty to the Mohammedans, except sporadically. 



100 ESSENTIALS OF FOREIGN MISSIONS 

Mohammedans are liable to degenerate, as are 
Christians, because of bad surroundings, as has 
been found in India where the caste system is 
invading Mohammedanism. As a matter of fact, 
they have been unable to resist the Hindu caste 
feeling. A Mohammedan, according to his re- 
ligion, has no right to eat with idol-worshipers; 
they will share the food with Hindus, but will not 
partake with Christians. "They tell Christians 
that the reason they do not eat with us is because 
we drink liquor and eat swine's flesh. The real 
reason is that they are influenced by the Hindu 
caste of the people." This is the testimony of one 
of the most distinguished missionaries. He also 
affirmed that it is a hard thing for the high-caste 
Mohammedan to be a Christian. There was a man 
who came to a missionary and desired to study 
Greek, but he did not return again until after 
some ten years had passed. When he reappeared 
the missionary said to him, "That is a strange way 
to study Greek." He replied: "I have been a 
prisoner ever since. My people learned that I was 
here, and locked me up, and I have only got out 
now because the house caught fire." 

Another unfavorable element is that Moham- 
medans are fatalists, and will not easily respond 
on the ground of personal responsibility. 

Besides their great university, Mohammedans 
have many schools. The ingenuity of its profes- 



HINDRANCES AND HELPS TO MISSIONS 101 

sional advocates when they come in contact with 
Christians is extraordinary. They have nothing 
to learn from the Jesuits in the way of sophistry. 
But the main reason why the Mohammedans who 
acknowledge the God of the Christians and the 
God of the Jews, and who, though not accepting 
the deity of Jesus Christ, regard him as one of 
the greatest of prophets, are so peculiarly difficult 
to reach, is the tremendous emphasis the prophet 
placed on prayer. 

The Hindus are on the surface polytheists, and 
much more easily won than Mohammedans. Be- 
neath their polytheism is, however, a pantheistic 
basis, and the more intelligent Hindu when the 
Christian minister tries to show him the incon- 
gruity of his bowing down to a snake or an idol, 
is likely to answer: "Is not God all-pervasive, 
and if he is, is he not in that stone ? If he is, I 
am not worshiping that object, but God." 

Next to the Mohammedans, the Jews are more 
difficult to convert to Christianity than any other 
class. For this there are many reasons. Among 
them is their ancestral pride, the strongest and 
most enduring in the world. Their physiognomy 
contributes greatly to their isolation, and places 
a great burden upon them when they profess 
Christianity. Their rules of disowning, and of 
diet, and the rite of circumcision strengthen ad- 



102 ESSENTIALS OF FOREIGN MISSIONS 

herence to their ancient allegiance. For a Jew 
to become a Christian is to cut himself off from 
all his relatives, to turn his back upon traditions 
borne in upon him by influences that have been 
gathering for thousands of years. An obstinacy 
has been developed by the centuries of Christian 
brutality. Neither the Catholic nor the Protes- 
tant countries can deny their guilt in this par- 
ticular. Only the younger nations, and not all of 
them, can plead not guilty against the charge of 
persecuting the Jews. 

Many years ago the Rev. Seigfried Kristeller, 
a Jew by birth, but educated in one of our theo- 
logical seminaries, whose parents had ostracized 
him for his acceptance of Christianity, intrusted 
to the writer a pathetic letter to his parents. On 
arriving near their residence the letter was duly 
delivered; but the answer was received from his 
parents to the effect that Seigfried Kristeller was 
to them "as one dead." 

Subtle Dangers in the Christian Churches 

One of the most dangerous perils to the whole 
missionary enterprise is the leaven of the natu- 
ralistic theories of the origin of the soul of man 
and of religion. Such conceptions of the history 
of religion as are put forth by Professor Na- 
thaniel Schmidt would destroy the power of Chris- 
tianity to make a single intelligent convert. He 



HINDRANCES AND HELPS TO MISSIONS 103 

maintains that "all religion has the same origin 9 ; 
that "all religion has a natural origin in the im- 
pression made by nature upon man and the sense 
of obligation" ; that "all religion is subject to the 
same laws of development" ; that "all differences 
in religion are due to peculiarities of the physical 
environment, the psychical development, and the 
social conditions" He asserts that "if anything 
in religion is revealed, all is revealed. There is, 
indeed, no objection to the use of the term 'revela- 
tion' if by it is meant the gradual unfolding of 
the truth to man's religious consciousness. But as 
long as it suggests an invidious and untenable dis- 
tinction between different forms of religion, or a 
miraculous communication of truth to man, it is 
wise to avoid the term." He declares that "there 
is no ground for supposing that any religion has 
its origin not so much in the common tendencies 
of man's religious nature as in the inspiration, 
originality, and power of the leaders of Buddhism, 
Mazdaism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam" 
That "those who think so overestimate the origi- 
nality of a few great religious leaders, and that it 
fails to recognize the significance of the individual 
initiative in all forms of religion." He classes 
Moses, Jesus, and Mohammed together, and affirms 
that "when the mythical and legendary element is 
removed and the historic facts are ascertained as 
nearly as possible, it is seen that these men builded 



104 ESSENTIALS OF FOREIGN MISSIONS 

upon foundations laid by others, and also that other 
builders followed them, without whom their work 
would have been less permanent. It is then 
recognized that their reaction against prevailing 
tendencies and traditions was but a stronger im- 
pulse in the same direction in which myriads of 
other souls had moved, that they were only repre- 
sentatives of that progressive element, that cen- 
trifugal force, that tendency to vary from the 
type, which, in human history as elsewhere in na- 
ture, forms the counterpart and supplement of 
the conservative element, the centripetal force, the 
tendency to preserve the type." 

If such views permeate the minds of mis- 
sionaries and lecturers on Christianity who visit 
those regions, or if they could be infused into the 
minds of intelligent Buddhists, Confucianists, 
and Mohammedans, all hope of leading men to 
Christ would disappear. 

The Brahma Somaj and the Arya Somaj are 
practically "a struggle or spasm of Hinduism to 
free itself from idolatry and polytheism and ab- 
sorb the ethics of Christianity without its super- 
naturalism." Twenty years ago it was said, "It 
is hardly to be expected that the Mohammedan, the 
Buddhist, the Brahman, the Confucianist, and 
others like them will yield to the supremacy of 
the Gospel without many curious and pathetic at- 



HINDRANCES AND HELPS TO MISSIONS 105 

tempts to build their 'half-way houses to Chris- 
tianity/ or to invent some compromise between the 
old and the new." 

Too high an estimate can easily be put on the 
contribution of ethnic religions to the religious 
thought of the world. The difference between 
Christianity as taught by Christ and Paul and 
the ethnic religions is the precise ground upon 
which Christian Missions rest. Flashes of light 
appear in the writings that have come down and 
the traditions which persist; but the Christian 
religion, in its purity, exhibits a different spirit, 
consists of different principles, and contains a 
revelation the validity of which may be made to 
the mere student more than probable by history 
and logic, and by experiment may be made cer- 
tain to the consciousness of the believer. A mis- 
sion based on the assumption that the proponents 
are more developed than those to whom they speak 
must fail. 

For Christianity to make concessions to other 
religions, as if those religions originated in the 
same way that Christianity originated; to admit 
that Mohammed, or Buddha, or Confucius, or Zo- 
roaster is in the same rank with Jesus Christ, 
and to concede that the true prophets of the Jews 
were not inspired of God, in a manner or to a 
degree not given to men generally or to the 



106 ESSENTIALS OP FOREIGN MISSIONS 

prophets of religions that did not recognize the 
one true eternal God, would be a fatal error. 

The claims of Christianity make it impossible 
for it to blend with other religions. 

Seventeen - Distinct Circumstances Favor- 
able to Missions 

Notwithstanding the circumstances unfavorable 
to Missions are many and depressing, the circum- 
stances favorable to Missions are also many, more 
powerful, and greatly encouraging. 

1. Valuable tracts of land in the centers of the 
nations in which missions are maintained and in 
many of the interior and remote regions have 
been purchased, and in India, China, Japan are 
large churches, book publishing concerns, houses 
for missionaries, schools, deaconesses, hospitals. 
The property thus invested amounts in the ag- 
gregate to a vast sum. Many of the edifices have 
been built for future ages, and where earthquakes 
are common the architectural rules of such 
countries have been observed. 

2. Papers, some of them of superior character, 
are circulated in the native tongues of the people. 
Libraries have been formed, and frequently 
learned missionaries have issued the first books 
of any kind printed in the language of the people 
they found when they established their missions. 
Not only this, but several languages have been 



HINDRANCES AND HELPS TO MISSIONS 107 

reduced to writing for the first time. While the 
utility of the publications is obvious, the debt 
that commerce acknowledges is of marked value 
in maintaining and increasing the influence of the 
mission and the missionaries. Wherever the ma- 
terial plants exist there are boards and organiza- 
tions of faculties. 

3. Missions are now established in every part 
of the world where Christianity does not prevail. 
Some of these can never succeed and ought never 
to have been established, but even the least of 
them may contribute to the idea that Christianity 
has determined to make itself known to every 
kindred, tribe, and tongue. Protestants have 
marched around the world, and to name the 
countries where are no missions would require but 
a few seconds. 

4. To an extent only to be estimated by a wide 
traveler has the Bible been translated into the 
language of the people who have been missioned. 
It is not only the best book for the promotion of 
morals and religion, but it is an incalculable help 
to students of foreign languages. One who wishes 
to visit for business merely that remote region, 
Dutch Guiana, will find the Bible in that lan- 
guage; if he is in Fo-kien, China, a Bible in the 
Amoy dialect is at his service. In Zanzibar, Al- 
geria, Morocco, Mesopotamia, and Turkey one 
finds an Arabic Bible, and if he chances to be 



108 ESSENTIALS OF FOREIGN MISSIONS 

among the American Indians, he sees the Scrip- 
tures in the Arapahoe, Cherokee, Choctaw, Chip- 
pewa, Delaware, and the Sioux dialects. If he is 
a student of languages he will observe the Basque 
in three different dialects. The Eskimos are not 
forgotten; they have three versions: Greenland, 
Labrador, and Hudson Bay. The consul in Fin- 
land has his Finnish Bible to aid him in the 
study of the language ; and the tourists among the 
Highlands of Scotland can obtain it in Gaelic. 
There are few Irish or Erse in Ireland, or any- 
where else, but those few can procure a Protes- 
tant translation of the Bible in that language. 
The Laplanders have three versions — to accommo- 
date the Lapps of Lapland, the Lapps of Norway, 
and the Lapps of Sweden. The Zulu, the Tonga, 
the Tibetan, each can read the Bible in his own 
tongue; four dialects are offered to Spain, and 
three of the Romansch to Switzerland. 

5. And yet there is more! General Christian 
literature is distributed in various languages — a 
complete outfit for the theological student, and all 
that is necessary for general education. For ex- 
ample: Albanian literature has been greatly in- 
creased by the publications of the British and 
Foreign Bible Society and Keligious Tract So- 
ciety. It is known that the alphabet of the Bul- 
garian language is substantially the same as that 
invented by Bishop Cyril in the ninth century and 



HINDRANCES AND HELPS TO MISSIONS 109 

now commonly called the Russian alphabet. Since 
the Crimean War a considerable modern litera- 
ture has sprung up in Bulgaria. It is universally 
admitted that to this growth American mission- 
aries have given notable stimulus. Dr. Biggs, of 
the American Board, and Dr. Long, of the Meth- 
odist Episcopal Society, made a translation of the 
entire Bible. In every country the language has 
been mastered and missionaries immediately in- 
ducted into that prevailing. Certain missionaries 
in every large station speak the native tongues as 
intelligently as the natives themselves. Others are 
able to make themselves understood, and are fluent 
in colloquial style of public speech ; while some of 
the best are able only to convey their meaning in 
private conversation, and are not able to deliver 
extended public addresses. 

6. The danger points, mental, physical, and 
social, in the larger mission fields have been dis- 
covered and can be pointed out to neophites. An 
instance of this was given in what may be called 
the confession of Bishop James M. Thoburn. Not 
only he, but many other missionaries that have 
survived the climate and attacks upon their own 
persons, are communicating their experiences to 
newly arrived missionaries, and, like consulting 
surgeons, are at the service of the younger men 
when difficulties surround them. 

7. A noteworthy fact is that there are now sev- 



110 ESSENTIALS OF FOREIGN MISSIONS 

eral generations of converts in the same family. 
The earlier missionaries could hardly exhibit to 
the natives a Christian family, and the converts 
were not members of a thoroughly ecclesiastical 
and social organization. Now young people speak 
of their "grandfathers" and "grandmothers" as 
having been Christians, and to a certain degree 
the influence of ancestry is working favorably for 
the consolidation and influence of the Christian 
community. The churches erected in the East 
Indian cities, the societies organized, the enter- 
prise constantly shown, commands alike the re- 
spect of the natives and the residents of other 
countries. The same is true in many cities of 
China, and in Japan. The latter country has 
organized "The Methodist Church of Japan," 
and exerts a profound influence, as do other 
denominations endowed with energy, tact, and 
sympathy. 

8. The growing respect for Christians in large 
cities radiates in all directions. It is true that at- 
tacks are constantly made upon Missions, but many 
of those attacks are a direct benefit. It cannot 
have escaped the notice of reading people that a 
great number of distinguished men have become 
vindicators of missionaries and Missions. In some 
instances that which is alleged against them proves 
to be in their favor, because it challenges investi- 
gation. Valuable experience has been gained 



HINDRANCES AND HELPS TO MISSIONS 111 

and comes to the aid of every new experiment. 
Necessarily, in the beginning, mistakes were 
made, but this history is a kind of negative 
guide, and the history of successes a positive 
indicator. 

9'. While there have been and are liable to be 
difficulties with governments, the causes of such 
difficulties are diminishing, and the value of the 
missions is cordially recognized. For a consider- 
able period Americans believed that the Chinese 
War, known as the Boxer War, was caused by the 
missionaries, by their imprudence and their in- 
terference. But out of that war grew two 
benefits to Missions: a demonstration that few 
Protestant missionaries were culpable, and 
that the majority had demonstrated themselves 
to be friends of the Chinese, and had carefully 
avoided running counter to their laws or 
prejudices. 

10. The fidelity of Chinese converts and their 
willingness to die for their faith gave convincing 
proof that they had not become Christians for 
worldly gain. Scarce one of a large number that 
were killed, and of an equal number that escaped 
injury, recanted. The bravery, and the aid given 
by missionaries to the diplomats when shut up in 
Peking, elicited expressions not only of gratitude 
but of the highest respect. 

11. Another element that is favorable to Mis-, 



112 ESSENTIALS OF FOREIGN MISSIONS 

sions is the diminution of prejudice on the part 
of the people — prejudice founded upon misun- 
derstanding and misrepresentation. This is 
rapidly passing away in most countries. It 
would be folly not to expect it in old countries 
now made new, such as the Philippines; but 
much more progress in this direction than could 
reasonably have been anticipated has taken place 
there. 

12. The relations between the different evan- 
gelical churches working in the same fields are 
rapidly growing more fraternal. Indeed, it is 
necessary to reflect whether such fraternity may 
not go too far. The difference between evangelical 
and nonevangelical is even greater in spirit than 
in doctrine. The disposition to enter regions 
where churches have already been established and 
are succeeding is diminishing, except where prose- 
lyting is intended. 

13. One fact of greatest importance is the re- 
lation of colonizing movements of the last cen- 
tury to the spread of Missions. Missions have 
often preceded governmental colonization, for 
when the embassies reached the field they found 
Christian missionaries established. The coloniz- 
ing process, however, has opened doors which with- 
out colonization could hardly have been entered 
with safety. 

14. The marvelous change in the attitude of 



HINDRANCES AND HELPS TO MISSIONS 113 

various denominations toward Missions cannot be 
detailed. Among the wonders of the age are the 
rise of the Young Men's Christian Association, 
and the various young people's societies, such as 
the Luther League, the Baptist Union, the So- 
ciety for Christian Endeavor, the Epworth 
League, and especially the Volunteer Movement 
of Young Men, and the societies growing out 
of it. 

15. Professor Eeinsch, in his valuable book on 
World Politics, in the department of "National 
Imperialism," says: "Coming now to the methods 
by which national expansion is effected, by which, 
in other words, entrance is gained to territory not 
yet appropriated by the great powers, we have to 
consider, in the first place, the influence of Mis- 
sions. There is a measure of truth in the saying 
that the flag follows the missionary, and trade fol- 
lows the flag, although the favorite example cited 
in Germany — that of the same British ship tak- 
ing out missionaries and cheaply manufactured 
idols — may be slightly tinctured with interna- 
tional pleasantry. ... As the priority of ap- 
pearance of a nation on unappropriated soil is 
of great importance under the doctrine of pre- 
occupation, the emissaries of religion who begin 
the civilizing process are, under the present exag- 
gerated conditions of competition, most valuable 
advance pickets of national expansion." 



114 ESSENTIALS OF FOREIGN MISSIONS 

This testimony is not from missionaries, but 
from the point of view of a master of the new 
science of world politics. 

16. The incidental benefit in developing and 
refining the mental faculties by training schools 
established by missionaries wherever they go 
speaks for itself. No reasoning being educated in 
them, whether or not he give up his ancestral re- 
ligion for Christianity, will speak evil of those 
institutions. In many parts of the Turkish em- 
pire, in Egypt, in Bulgaria, and several other 
parts of the world, I endeavored to converse with 
intelligent natives who had been educated in mis- 
sionary schools and colleges but for personal or 
political reasons had not become avowed Chris- 
tians ; and all lauded missionaries and the schools. 
Dr. J. H. Barrows, a few years before his death, 
in an address in the city of New York, said: 
"When I was in India I visited the native city of 
Jeypore, where I was honored by a call from the 
Prime Minister of that state, a very learned man, 
known for his justice and for his ability. He 
sat down in the missionary's home where I was, 
and we talked together about many things, and 
especially about Shakespeare. I found he knew 
more about the great dramatist than I did, and I 
was delighted with his accomplishments and with 
his spirit. As he was leaving the room he took me 
by the hand and said, 'Dr. Barrows, all that I 



HINDRANCES AND HELPS TO MISSIONS 115 

have and am I owe to my education in Duff Col- 
lege, Calcutta/" 

17. The success of medical missions has fre- 
quently had an effect like that of ancient miracles. 
Hospitals, dispensaries, orphanages, foundling 
asylums, homes for infants, schools and homes for 
the blind and deaf mutes, leper hospitals and 
asylums, and homes for their untainted children, 
have made, and will continue to make, a profound 
impression. Incidents known to be true are 
stronger evidence of a proposition of this kind 
than argumentation. Jacob Chamberlain, doctor 
of medicine and of divinity, testifies that more 
than a third of a century ago he established his 
hospital and dispensary in India, and that a few 
months after there came in three Brahman clerks 
of the government office, which was near by. 
They came for treatment, obtained their tickets, 
were prescribed for, and sat down to wait for the 
distribution of the medicine, for no medicines 
were given out until after the prayer ; but, says the 
Doctor, "as I knew these young Brahmans to be 
not their own masters but obliged to be at their 
office at a given hour, and the room was not yet 
filled, I said to them : 'I will excuse you from wait- 
ing to-day for the religious exercise, as I know 
that you must be at the government office at the 
stroke of the clock. You can take your medicines 
and go.' 'No, sir,' said they, 'if you please we 



116 ESSENTIALS OP FOREIGN MISSIONS 

will wait for the prayer/ I said, 'That is my rule, 
but I make an exception in your case, because I 
know you may be in great haste to go.' 'ISTo, sir, 
we will wait for the reading and the prayer, be- 
cause after your prayer to your God who sent you 
here to heal us, we believe that these medicines 
will have a much greater effect upon us, and though 
we be not of your religion, we do believe that your 
prayers are heard, and we will wait for the read- 
ing of the Scripture and the prayer.' " A case of 
a different kind among the Mohammedans is re- 
ported by Dr. J. L. Humphrey, a well-known 
missionary to India: "There is great power in 
medicine for winning one's way to the hearts and 
enlisting the sympathy of the people. On one oc- 
casion there was a Mohammedan trying to enter 
into an argument with me who used some very dis- 
courteous words. He came to me a little while 
after and apologized, saying : 'I did not know that 
you were a doctor ; I did not know that you had 
charge of the hospital over there. I do not wish 
to offend you, as I may be sick to-morrow and 
want you; I want you to be my friend, so I beg 
your pardon.' " 

The conclusion drawn from this comparison of 
things unfavorable and favorable to the success of 
Missions is, that after giving every value to every 
favorable and unfavorable element, and adding the 
spirit and letter of the Christian religion, and to 



HINDRANCES AND HELPS TO MISSIONS 117 

that the Providence of God, and His will that all 
nations shall hear the Gospel, and to that that the 
spirit of Missions at home and abroad is essen- 
tial for the maintenance of Christianity upon the 
earth, there can be no doubt that the Gospel of 
Jesus Christ (though it may be delayed longer 
than the overenthusiastic think) will become the 
dominant religion in all the earth. 



THE FOURTH LECTURE 

WHAT OF THE PRESENT AND THE 
FUTURE OF FOREIGN MISSIONS? 



119 



THE FOUKTH LECTURE 

WHAT OF THE PRESENT AND THE FUTURE OF 
FOREIGN MISSIONS? 

According to a reliable tabulated statement 
there are in existence one hundred and eighty Prot- 
estant foreign missionary organizations. The table 
includes denominational boards of missions, cor- 
porations, and private societies. 

There are twenty-eight societies working for the 
Christianization of the Jews. Direct missions to 
them have not usually been successful ; but a slowly 
increasing number may be found in various local 
congregations of different Christian Churches. 

Roman Catholic missions are found everywhere, 
and the number of religious orders and societies 
engaged in that work is amazing. Of the orders 
there are more than fifty; and all the missionary 
priests have auxiliaries in communities of brother- 
hoods and sisterhoods. 

Protestant Missions in Roman Catholic 
Countries 

The question is frequently asked, Why do Prot- 
estants send missionaries to Roman Catholic 
countries ? The answer is, that in some Roman 

121 



122 ESSENTIALS OF FOREIGN MISSIONS 

Catholic countries a large proportion of the people, 
though Roman Catholic in name, are not Christian 
in spirit or practice; also there are in so-called 
Catholic countries great numbers of infidels and 
agnostics. Such Protestants as send missionaries 
to countries where Roman Catholics preponderate 
do so that there may be a presentation of Chris- 
tianity so different from that made by the Church 
of Rome as to uproot particular doctrines, sacra- 
ments, or ceremonies believed by Protestants to 
have been inventions. They wish to show that true 
Christianity is not loaded with the numerous and 
burdensome tenets, customs, and exactions which 
have accumulated through the ages in the Roman 
Catholic Church, especially with respect to the 
relations of Church and State. They are chiefly 
education, freedom of conscience, speech, and the 
press ; the infallibility of the Pope, the sacerdotal 
powers of the priests, the undue homage to de- 
ceased saints and the Virgin Mary, prayers for the 
dead, Purgatory, the confessional, indulgences, en- 
forced celibacy upon priests and nuns, the belief 
that the substance of the wine and bread in the 
holy communion is transmuted into the literal sub- 
stance of the body and blood of Christ, and the 
consequent elevation and worship of the Host ; the 
withholding of the wine from communicants except 
to the priest celebrating the mass, the refusal of 
divorce, even for adultery, and other unscriptural 



WHAT OF THE PRESENT AND FUTURE? 123 

or extra-scriptural doctrines and customs imposed 
upon its devotees. Furthermore, they conceive 
that the introduction of Protestantism into Catho- 
lic countries contributes to the spreading of 
principles of human equality, as the freedom of 
conscience, of speech, and of the Press, and non-de- 
nominational Education at the public expense, and 
creates in time a degree of influence which will 
affect favorably the Catholic Church as a whole, as 
has already been proved in American Catholicism. 
No traveler in Spain, France, Italy, Portugal, and 
South and Central America, Cuba, and the Philip- 
pines can fail to perceive a marked difference 
between the Roman Catholic peoples there, and 
those of that faith long domiciled in the United 
States and Great Britain. 

Nevertheless, the transformation of pagans, Mo- 
hammedans, and Buddhists into Roman Catholics 
is a definite advance, and the present progress of 
Eoman Catholics in such lands is to be considered 
a gain to general Christianity. This is acknowl- 
edged by those who cannot accept the claims of the 
Papacy to universal dominion, the validity of the 
added five sacraments, or believe it wise to ap- 
propriate public money for the support of sec- 
tarian schools, or allow teachers in schools 
supported by public funds, to instruct the children 
in Romish forms of religion, either by book, speech, 
or the wearing of ecclesiastical vestments. 



124 ESSENTIALS OP FOREIGN MISSIONS 

Another question of much delicacy and diffi- 
culty has arisen. Shall Protestants of one Com- 
munion send missionaries to countries ecclesias- 
tically and civilly under the influence of another 
orthodox denomination? The Methodist Episco- 
pal and the Baptist Churches are involved in this 
on a larger scale than any other. Missions in 
Germany, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and Fin- 
land, Eussia, are sustained by both Baptists and 
Methodists. 

The answer is this: Those missions originated 
in the following manner : natives of those countries 
emigrated to this country in great numbers. The 
Protestant bodies dominating in the Fatherland 
did not exist in a large part of the United States, 
and where they did they were not adequate to 
gather in the constant stream of immigrants, and 
when and where they could, many went astray. 
Many of these were converted in Methodist and 
Baptist revivals. They wrote home, detailing 
their vivid experiences. Then, in many instances, 
relatives sought and found similar experiences. 
Many returned from America, either to reside 
permanently or on visits. Small companies gath- 
ered to hear of their new and enthusiastic news 
and feelings. 

In all these countries the people of the State 
Churches are divided into three classes of un- 
equal numbers: one rationalistic, another thor- 



WHAT OF THE PRESENT AND FUTURE? 125 

oughly evangelistic, another simply conforming 
more or less to the ancestral ceremonies. 

Among the evangelistics there were many who 
could not endure the little companies, nor what 
seemed to them the extravagances of the converts. 
This lack of sympathy, together with ridicule 
from the rationalists, at first, caused the converts 
to ask Methodists in America to send over preach- 
ers. This was the almost accidental way in which 
the missions were originated not only in Germany 
but in Scandinavian countries. 

It is the opinion of many devout Lutherans that 
the advent of Methodism has been a benefit to 
evangelical Christianity. Already the third gener- 
ation of German and Scandinavian Methodists 
are on the scene, reciprocal with those Conferences 
in the United States which are conducted in the 
languages of their fathers. 

There is no desire to see the true Churches of 
Christ disturbed or preyed upon by Methodists, 
and those who are in the spirit of the Gospel, and 
demonstrate it by the works, will not be disturbed. 

Value of Correct Missionary Statistics 

An acquaintance with statistics is of immense 
value as showing that every denomination 
in the world is interested in foreign missions, 
except some small sects which exhibit other 
indications of fanaticism, such as the "Old Two- 



126 ESSENTIALS OF FOREIGN MISSIONS 

Seed-in-the-Spirit" Presbyterian, Baptists, and 
others who also in addition to missionary societies, 
regard with marked disfavor other "modern in- 
stitutions," such as Sunday schools and theolog- 
ical seminaries, and some small offshoots from 
Methodism, Presbyterianism, etc. 

Grandeur of Foreign Missions 

It might be said without fear of material con- 
tradiction that the only enterprise in which all 
Protestants, Roman Catholics, Orthodox Greek, 
and Russo-Greek Churches agree is Missions. 
Comprehension of their grandeur is clarified and 
deepened by considering the era when modern 
foreign Protestant Missions may be said to have 
originated, which dates from William Carey's 
ringing call. 

Carey was born in 1761, and at the age of 
twenty-five entered the Baptist ministry. He 
soon became impressed with the idea of a mission 
to the heathen, frequently conversing with minis- 
ters, to whom he attempted to demonstrate its 
practicability and importance. At an early age he 
"devoured books, especially of science, history, 
voyages," and in spite of scanty advantages mas- 
tered Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Dutch, and French. 
iNbne of his brethren sympathized in his constant 
theme — a mission to the heathen. Early in his 
pastoral career he published a work entitled An 



WHAT OF THE PRESENT AND FUTURE? 127 

Inquiry into the Obligation of Christians to Use 
Means for the Conversion of the Heathen. With- 
in six years the seed which he had been diligently 
sowing produced a plentiful harvest. At a meet- 
ing of the Ministers' Association at Nottingham, 
May 31, 1792, he preached from this text, "En- 
large the place of thy tent/' He laid down two 
propositions: "Expect great things from God/' 
and "Attempt great things for God." By this dis- 
course he conquered the Ministers' Association, 
and in about six months the English Baptist Mis- 
sionary Society was formed. Carey at first was 
strongly inclined to go to Africa, but offered to 
go wherever the Society might send him, and 
India was selected. 

He embarked on an English vessel, but, on ac- 
count of objections made against missionaries by 
the East India Company, the commander of the 
ship was forbidden to take him or his friend, John 
Thomas, a surgeon, and they were debarked. 
Carey, however, with undaunted courage, sailed 
in a Danish vessel, and landed unobserved in 
India. 

In the same year that Carey began missionary 
work in India the Society for the Propagation of 
the Gospel opened a mission in New South Wales. 
The next was established by the London Mission- 
ary Society in the island of Tahiti. Prior to that 



128 ESSENTIALS OF FOREIGN MISSIONS 

the same Society had begun missions in South 
Africa, and in India, at Calcutta. Next appears 
on the scene the Church Missionary Society, 
which opened a mission in West Africa. The 
Baptist Missionary Society (Carey's) planted one 
in Ceylon. Then the London Missionary Society 
began work at Hongkong. A year later the Dutch 
appeared with a mission in Java; the Church 
Missionary Society in the West Indies; and, for 
the first time in its history, the American Board 
of Commissioners for Foreign Missions appeared 
in Bombay; and the American Baptist Union car- 
ried the Gospel to Burma. 

In 1814 the Wesley an Methodist Missionary 
Society selected South America as the site of its 
first regular mission; the Church Missionary So- 
ciety added to its list New Zealand and Ceylon, 
and, speedily, the Levant. The London Missionary 
Society now entered Malta. 

India appears to have been the chief center of 
Missions, for in 1816 the General Baptist Society, 
now the Baptist Missionary Society, sent a mis- 
sionary to Bengal, and the American Board one to 
Ceylon. They were followed, in 1817, by the 
Wesleyan Methodist Society, which flung out 
its banner in Bengal. In 1818 the Church Mis- 
sionary Society planted itself in Ceylon, and the 



WHAT OF THE PRESENT AND FUTURE? 129 

London Missionary Society opened the mission in 
Madagascar. 

In 1819 the American Board appeared in Syria 
and in the Hawaiian Islands; and the Church 
Missionary Society in Egypt. 

The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel 
opened in Cape Colony in 1820, and the next 
year in Calcutta. 

In 1821 the Scottish Missionary Society, after- 
ward the United Free Church of Scotland, added 
its strength to the Zulu mission work ; the Ameri- 
can Baptist Missionary Union started a mission 
in the new republic of Liberia. In 1822 the 
United Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland or- 
ganized one in Calcutta, and the Wesleyan Meth- 
odist Society inaugurated one in New Zealand. 

In 1828 the American Board entered Greece, 
and the London Missionary Society entered Siam. 
The first to settle in Persia was the Basel Society; 
and the first to visit Canton the American Board, 
in 1830, the same year that the Church Missionary 
Society appeared in Abyssinia and the Protestant 
Episcopal Church in Greece. 

The year 1831 is notable for the beginning of 
the work of the American Board in Constanti- 
nople. That enterprising body, also, in 1833, en- 
tered China through Bangkok. The Board of 
Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian Church in 
the United States then organized its first mission 



130 ESSENTIALS OP FOREIGN MISSIONS 

in the Northwest Provinces of India. The same 
year the American Board entered Persia, and the 
Methodist Episcopal Church invaded Liberia. 

In 1835 three missions were established, one by 
the Protestant Episcopal Church, in Shanghai, 
one by the Free-will Baptists, in India, and the 
third by the Presbyterian Board, in Liberia. 

In 1836 Borneo was the first foreign mission 
of the Reformed Church in America; and the 
Methodist Episcopal Church in South America. 

The Presbyterian Board set up in 1838 its ban- 
ner in Malaysia; in 1839 the London Missionary 
Society entered New Hebrides. The Lutheran 
Missionary Society of the United States began 
mission work in the Central Provinces of India in 
1840. In 1841 the Foreign Missionary Society of 
the Presbyterian Church in Ireland entered India; 
also the Welsh Calvinistic Mission raised its 
standard in North India. 

In 1844 the South American Missionary So- 
ciety opened a mission in Tierra del Fuego. In 
1852 the American Board entered Micronesia. In 
1854 the United Presbyterian Church commenced 
in Egypt, where their success has been remarkable. 
In 1857 the Methodist Episcopal Church set up 
a mission in Bulgaria. The next year the Ameri- 
can Board entered that country, but not in the re- 
gions occupied by the Methodists. 

[Not till 1859 in the catalogue of Missions does 



WHAT OF THE PRESENT AND FUTURE? 131 

the name now known and respected (and in a sense 
feared) by the whole world appear — Japan. In 
that year the Protestant Episcopal Church, the 
Reformed Church in America, and the Presby- 
terian Church entered Japan. In 1865 foreign 
missions of the Presbyterian Church in England 
entered Japan, and in the same year Formosa, 
now practically a part of Japan. In 1869 the 
American Board entered Japan; also the Church 
Missionary Society, and in 1871 the Methodist 
Church of Canada and the Woman's Union Mis- 
sionary Society followed. In 1872 the Meth- 
odist Episcopal Church and the American Baptist 
Missionary Union established missions there, as 
did, in 1873, the Society for the Propagation of 
the Gospel; in 1876, the Evangelical Association- 
in 1877, the Cumberland Presbyterian Mission- 
ary Society; in 1879, the Reformed German; in 
1880, the Methodist Protestant Church Mission- 
ary Society; in 1883, the Disciples; in 1885, the 
Presbyterian Church, South; the American 
Friends' Board of Foreign Missions, the German 
Evangelical Synod of the United States, and 
Board of Missions of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church, South; in 1888, the Christian Mission, 
commonly called Brethren; in 1890, the Southern 
Baptist Convention, and the Universalist Church ; 
in 1892, the Evangelical Lutheran General Coun- 
cil Missions; also the Canadian Church of Eng- 



132 ESSENTIALS OF FOREIGN MISSIONS 

land; in 1893, a Mission to Lepers, the United 
Brethren in Christ, and the United Methodist 
Free Churches of England, Home and Foreign 
Missions. 

This seems a remarkable fulfillment of the 
words, "He that hath, to him shall be given/' 

In 1861 the Protestant Episcopal Church en- 
tered Haiti, and the London Missionary Society 
New Guinea. 

Mexico was entered in 1870 by the Protestant 
Episcopal Church; by the Methodist Episcopal 
Church in 1872 ; and by the Methodist Episcopal 
Church, South, in the same year. 

In 1874 the Swedish National Missionary So- 
ciety entered the Congo Free State. 

In 1884 the Presbyterian Church entered 
Korea; and in 1885, the Methodist Episcopal 
Church. 

In 1886 the Archbishop's Mission entered Per- 
sia, creating considerable friction, as that country 
had already several missions, and Arabia was en- 
tered at Aden, by the United Free Church of 
Scotland. 

In 1888 the Cumberland Presbyterian Mis- 
sionary Society entered Mexico. In 1889 the 
Methodist Episcopal Church entered Malaysia. 

The Philippines were entered by the Presbyte- 
rians in 1899 ; also the American Baptist Union, 
the Methodist Episcopal Church, the Church 



WHAT OP THE PRESENT AND FUTURE? 133 

Mission, the Seventh Day Adventists ; and in 1901 
United Brethren in Christ, and in 1902 the 
American Board of Commissioners for Foreign 
Missions. 

In 1899 the Presbyterian Board, the Southern 
Presbyterian Board, the American Missionary 
Association, the Foreign Christian Missionary 
Society, Disciples, the Evangelical Lutheran Gen- 
eral Council, and the Methodist Episcopal 
Church, entered Porto Rico. 

Striking Contrasts 

Half a century ago Russia and Japan, seven 
thousand miles apart, and farther by water, could 
never have come together in great armies; but so 
amazing has been scientific achievement that the 
late war was waged in a region which one army 
could reach in four days, and the other in four 
weeks; and throughout the entire war the rest of 
the world received daily information from the field. 

Commodore Perry in 1854 — when a few 
wooden vessels made the long journey to Japan — 
found a people who had on its statute books : "So 
long as the sun shall continue to warm the earth, 
let no Christian be so bold as to come to Japan; 
and let all know that the king of Spain himself, 
or the Christian's God, or the Great God of all, 
if he dare violate this command, shall pay for it 
with his head." 



134 ESSENTIALS OF FOREIGN MISSIONS 

Fifty-four years ago a director of the East 
India Company declared that he would rather see 
"a band of devils in India than a band of mis- 
sionaries." 

When The Christian Advocate published the 
editorial which elicited sufficient contributions 
from readers to justify the opening of a Methodist 
Episcopal Mission in Korea, it had not been three 
years since Korea was called the "Hermit Na- 
tion." 

The Rev. Dr. Cuyler, ever both concise and 
vivid, stated that in the year 1800 no steamer 
plowed the waters, no locomotive traversed an 
inch of soil, no photographic plate had ever 
been kissed by the sunlight, no telephone had ever 
talked from town to town, steam had never 
driven mighty mills, and electric currents had 
never been harnessed into telegraph and trolley 
wires. 

The address of the Bishops of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church in 1900, written by the late 
Bishop Andrews, says of the beginnings of that 
denomination : 

In all the land there was no power loom, no power 
press, no large manufactory in textiles, wood or iron, 
no canal. The possibilities of electricity and light, 
heat, and power were unknown and unsuspected. The 
cotton gin had just begun its revolutionary work. In- 
tercommunication was difficult, the postal service slow 
and costly, literature scanty and of inferior quality. 



WHAT OF THE PRESENT AND FUTURE? 135 

When, in 1847, the first Methodist missionaries 
went to China the voyage required nearly one hun- 
dred and twenty days. 

Dr. Calvin Mateer, who was six months in 1863 
in reaching Chefoo, China, returned in 1902 in a 
comfortable journey of one month. Stanley 
"could now go from Glasgow to Stanley Falls, in 
Africa, in forty-three days," and to-day railway 
trains run constantly between Saint Petersburg 
and Peking. 

Dr. Brown, in New Forces in Old China, re- 
counts an experience pertinent to this: "Camp- 
ing one night in Far Northern Laos after a 
toilsome ride on elephants, I realized that I was 
12,000 miles from home, at as remote a point 
almost as it would be possible for man to reach. 
All about was wilderness relieved only by the few 
houses of a small village. But, walking into that 
tiny hamlet, I found at the police station a tele- 
phone connecting with the telegraph office at 
Chieng-Mai, so that although I was on the other 
side of the planet I could have sent a telegram to 
my New York office in a few minutes." 

Of the innumerable contrasts I emphasize the 
following: Nearly all countries were closed to 
foreigners one hundred years ago; missions were 
abhorred, and at home were far from popular. 
As late as 1808 the celebrated Sydney Smith ridi- 



136 ESSENTIALS OF FOREIGN MISSIONS 

culed Carey in an article in the Edinburgh Re- 
view, of which he was one of the chief lights, as 
the "consecrated cobbler" and "maniac." 

General Lane, the first territorial governor of 
Oregon, desiring to reach his post, started from 
his home in Indiana August 27, 1848, traveling 
overland to San Francisco, and thence by water, 
the journey occupying six months. 

The modes of travel, with respect to speed, 
comfort and time, have revolutionized the postal 
communications of the world. 

When our missionaries in China went to the 
interior they could get letters only by the aid of 
couriers or chance travelers. Now the modern 
system, introduced by Sir Robert Hart, already 
includes five hundred of the principal cities of the 
empire. Mails can be received from all parts of 
Europe in two or three weeks. Missionaries in 
India, Japan, and China can keep continuously 
informed. 

When, two decades ago, the Revised Version of 
the "New Testament was issued a Chicago paper 
received it by telegraph and distributed it to the 
public the next morning. 

As Dr. Arthur Brown, secretary of the Presby- 
terian Board of Foreign Missions, rose to address a 
meeting of the English-speaking residents of Can- 
ton, China, in September, 1901, a message on the 
very day of the event was handed him, which read, 



WHAT OF THE PRESENT AND FUTURE? 137 

"President McKinley is dead/' And what shall 
be said of the eighteen hundred submarine cables 
of over two hundred thousand miles ? To this 
must be added wireless telegraphy in every di- 
rection that needs no cable, that sends out count- 
less messages when it sends one. The story of the 
Republic, and the rescue of every soul on board, 
speaks more eloquently of these marvelously 
changed conditions than the tongue of any 
orator. 

Sixty years ago it was hardly safe, in most 
parts of the world outside of Europe, for a trav- 
eler, without armed attendants, to go very far 
from the cities containing Legations from other 
nations. 

In 1863 I was preaching in Plymouth Church, 
Brooklyn, Mr. Beecher being in Europe pleading 
for the Federal Government, then imperiled by 
the Civil War. A member of the family which 
entertained me interested me greatly. She was 
advanced in years, and somewhat shattered nerv- 
ously. Her appearance indicated refinement, 
and traces of unusual beauty remained. At the 
dinner table she made singular motions; appar- 
ently her thoughts were far away, and her expres- 
sion was that of one perceiving mentally some 
dreadful scene. There was nothing that suggested 
impaired reason, and for the greater part of the 
time she listened to the conversation. After she 



138 ESSENTIALS OF FOREIGN MISSIONS 

had retired one of her daughters told me that her 
father was the captain of a large sailing vessel 
carrying goods to Oriental ports ; that her mother 
sometimes accompanied him on his long voyages; 
that the ship had been wrecked on the coast of 
China, and her mother was taken captive, placed 
in a cage, was carried through different parts of 
the great empire for several months as a part of 
a show, and that over the cage was the inscription 
in Chinese, "A Real Live American Woman." 
Alone, and unable to communicate with any 
American, and never seeing one who spoke English 
in the motley crowds that stared at her, the poor 
woman barely survived each horrid day. When 
she was too ill to rise at the command of the show- 
man, a long pole was thrust at her as one might 
rouse a sleepy lion for the entertainment of chil- 
dren visiting a menagerie. When she was almost 
at death's door a consul of one of the European 
states, who could read Chinese, saw the inscrip- 
tion and hastened to her rescue. He secured her 
release; but she never fully recovered her nervous 
tone, and often when conversing with friends, for 
a moment she had this dreadful vision — the crowd 
grimacing and hurling anathemas at her. This 
story, as graphically told as one of the parables in 
the New Testament, burned its way into the 
chambers of memory. ISTot being able to give 
it absolute credence, when Mr. Beecher returned 



WHAT OF THE PRESENT AND FUTURE? 139 

from Europe I repeated it to him, and lie assured 
me that the amazing account was absolutely- 
true. 

Could such a protracted outrage occur to-day 
wherever missionaries have penetrated, or in any 
place where the authorities know of danger to or 
cruel treatment of a European or American 
citizen ? 

The respect of all non-Christian countries for 
Missions has been augmented incalculably. It is 
now comparatively safe for missionaries to explore 
any country. When the first Europeans went to 
China and saw the Chinese maps, they found that 
the Celestial Empire took up the greater part of 
the map, and in the corners was a writing which, 
translated, read, "Unknown Territories Inhabited 
by Barbarians." 

One hundred years ago if one had prophesied 
that all the great Powers and many smaller would 
undertake to colonize, none would have believed it. 
But every effort at colonization opens new doors 
for Missions. 

Respect at home for missionaries has quadru- 
pled in the past half century, and that respect does 
not depend upon transient action or reaction, but 
upon the quality of the work and the character of 
the missionaries. The success much resembles the 
evolution of nations from small settlements. These 
began with decades or centuries of hardships, ob- 



140 ESSENTIALS OP FOREIGN MISSIONS 

scurity, discouragements, and isolation; then a 
gradual growth was seen, and this finally advanced 
by leaps and bounds. Some missions are now in 
the first stage, others in the second, and an in- 
creasing number in the third. Settlements have 
sprung up like Jonah's gourd. A few have had 
almost as brief a life. Others have flourished and 
even outstripped those surely advancing. Of these 
the most conspicuous in the whole history of 
Missions is Korea. 

Medical missions first opened Korea to the 
message, but at that time the preaching of the 
Gospel was forbidden. No meetings for religious 
worship could be held elsewhere than on mission 
compounds ; then the services had to be conducted 
quietly, and baptism had to be administered in 
secret. The first year after the medical work 
began, which was in 1884, there was a fearful 
cholera epidemic, and the lay missionaries, led by 
physicians and nurses, worked day and night for 
weeks in the fight with that disease. The Korean 
people wondered at this, but still more were they 
astonished by the conduct and bearing of the Ko- 
rean Christians. It is impossible to state defi- 
nitely how many Christian converts are there, 
and to supply the needed preachers and teachers. 
The Koreans build their own chapels, support 
their own evangelists and nearly all their own 
school teachers. 



WHAT OF THE PRESENT AND FUTURE? 141 

Missionary Leaders 

No important result has ever been accomplished 
by one man working entirely alone, nor was ever 
a grand and permanent work done by the multi- 
tude without leaders. Leaders are of various 
types. Some conceive great plans, which other 
men bring to perfection and popularize. Many 
are better qualified to work a plan than to plan 
their work. As foreign missions are almost all- 
inclusive in their needs and methods, every type 
of leadership appears there. One type operates 
so quietly as to escape observation, and not until 
he has been removed from the place of responsi- 
bility, or finished his career upon the earth, is 
his leadership adequately estimated or gratefully 
acknowledged. 

George Daista Boardman belongs to the latter 
type. Although but thirty years of age, and but 
three years in the service, his willing sacrifice gave 
a hero whose fame will endure forever to the Bap- 
tist Board of Missions. Just before sunset on the 
last day of his life, he was carried from his bed 
to the water side, and in his presence his col- 
league baptized thirty-four Karens. Though very 
ill, when advised to turn aside for rest, he an- 
swered, "The cause of God is more important than 
my life, and if I return now our whole object will 
be defeated." 



142 ESSENTIALS OF FOREIGN MISSIONS 

David Brainerd was another who led by his 
influence and life. He was a missionary to the 
Indians, and was not remarkable for learning, but 
before his early death he accomplished wonderful 
and widespread results. It was his journals, pub- 
lished after his death, that made Jonathan Ed- 
wards a missionary to the Indians of Stockbridge. 
To him, also, Henry Martin traced his decision 
to become a missionary ; and even William Carey 
was indebted for much of the inspiration which 
had shaped his decision. 

Of very different type indeed was William 
Butler, the founder of the India Mission of the 
Methodist Episcopal Church, and who also 
founded the mission of the same Church in 
Mexico. William Butler went through the Sepoy 
Rebellion, a price upon his head. After twenty- 
six years he returned to India, and at Bareilly, 
where the first meeting of his mission had been 
held, gave thanks to God for its growth and power 
during the years that had intervened. 

Dr. Titus Coan was the chief evangelist of the 
Hawaiian Islands, and his career filled with en- 
thusiasm all lovers of Christianity. He preached 
forty-three times in eight days, made tours 
through the island, and had the joy of seeing 
thousands become genuine and intelligent Chris- 
tians. 



WHAT OP THE PRESENT AND FUTURE? 143 

It may be said of Alexander Duff that he 
led the world in Missions by pen, voice, and ex- 
ample. 

Thomas Coke established missions in Nova 
Scotia and in the West Indies, superintended the 
work on the West India Islands, and finally turned 
his attention to Ceylon and India. He was so 
anxious to commence this mission that he offered 
to defray all the expenses, amounting to six thou- 
sand pounds. As he was then advanced in years 
his friends tried to dissuade him from the long voy- 
age, but he said, "If you will not let me go, you 
will break my heart." He, however, did not reach 
India, but died suddenly in his cabin, and was 
buried at sea. His spiritual leadership continued 
long after he was dead, and he had more to do in 
stirring up missionary spirit in the newly formed 
Methodist Episcopal Church than any other of 
its earliest supporters. 

Cyrus Hamlin was the man of all work of 
the American Board, and made that body known 
throughout the world during the Crimean War, 
and again by establishing Robert College. To 
write his biography would be a pleasure, on the 
principle that the greater the number of unusual 
incidents in the subject's career the more interest- 
ing the story of his life to author and reader. 



144 ESSENTIALS OF FOREIGN MISSIONS 

Adoniram Judson in the thirty-seven years 
of his missionary service was conspicuous for 
thorough work, fervent piety, powerful intellect, 
adaptation to every position, and especially by 
suffering for the cause of God. He was thrown 
into the death-prison during the war between Eng- 
land and Burma, and there lay bound with five 
pairs of fetters for seventeen months. In that 
trial of faith he manifested the same determi- 
nation which had sustained him when, after going 
out as one of the early missionaries of the Ameri- 
can Board as a Congregationalist, he conscien- 
tiously changed his views, and, withdrawing, be- 
came a Baptist. 

Robert Moffat was a man of stimulating 
type. He spent his missionary life in Africa, and 
for years he labored preaching and teaching with- 
out witnessing conversions ; but after he had com- 
pleted a translation of Saint Luke, and in order to 
publish it had learned the printer's art, the mis- 
sion became prosperous. Unaided, he completed 
the translation of the whole Bible into Bechuana. 
His life is thus summed up by one of his biog- 
raphers: "On entering the missionary work he 
found the people murderous savages ; when he died 
he left them with a written language of their own, 
enabling them to appreciate and cultivate the 
habits of civilized life." 



WHAT OF THE PRESENT AND FUTURE? 145 

David Livingstone stands in the front rank of 
explorers and missionaries. When urged by Sir 
Roderick Murchison to relinquish the missionary 
work and devote himself only to discovery, he 
wrote : "I would not consent to go simply as a geog- 
rapher, but as a missionary and do geography by 
the way." Twice was he lost and found, the second 
rescue making an immortal reputation for Stanley, 
who discovered and brought him back to civiliza- 
tion five days after he had written, in his ex- 
tremity, "I commit myself to the Almighty Dis- 
poser of Events." 

The McAll Mission, though undenominational, 
shows its founder, the Rev. Robert W. McAll, 
to be a true missionary leader. In France, Cor- 
sica, Tunis, and Algiers he did not aim at any- 
thing except purely evangelistic teaching. In 
France he did not attempt to win converts from 
the Catholic Church, though many French Catho- 
lics who did not withdraw became evangelical in 
spirit. Most of his early converts were made from 
those who had shaken off their early Roman Catho- 
lic views and had become atheistic. 

The Moravians,, in view of their small num- 
bers, surpass the world in mission work; their 
system befits their situation, and they abound with 
leaders who lead. 



146 ESSENTIALS OF FOREIGN MISSIONS 

Robert Morrison was the founder of Protes- 
tant Missions in China. His name will never be 
forgotten. He was a translator, and to show his 
determination and adherence he writes, "I have 
been twenty-five years in China, and am now be- 
ginning to see the work prosper." 

John Stronach was a man of no common 
order. He made a brilliant record by the trans- 
lation of the Bible into Chinese. He was "a most 
idiomatic master of Chinese/' and it is said that 
it was a charm to hear him speak. Dr. Stronach 
was the author of a pamphlet containing a mas- 
terly setting forth of the difficulties felt by a lit- 
erary Chinaman, and the answers to them by the 
missionary. He was successful as an evangelist, 
and labored indefatigably in starting stations. 
"With all this he was overflowing with high 
spirits, and had an unfailing fund of humor, 
which served him well in conflicts with opponents 
who became troublesome." 

William Taylor was probably the most suc- 
cessful world-covering evangelist who ever lived. 
He was his own society and secretary, and there- 
fore did not receive attention from encyclopedists ; 
but, speaking through interpreters, he was at home 
in any part of the world. He established many 
missions on the "Pauline principle," as he termed 



WHAT OF THE PRESENT AND FUTURE? 147 

it, of living upon the indigenous resources of the 
country wherever he planted a mission. None 
ever visited Australia as an evangelist whose work 
there endured as did his. In India and in South 
America his name will ever be revered. 

The foregoing are types of leaders in the field. 
"Time would fail me" to speak of the lay leaders 
and secretaries whose eloquence and industry have 
conserved the interests of the missionary societies 
and aroused the people to a sense of obligation and 
opportunity. 

The Gift of Missions to Anthropology 

Foreign missions have added immensely to the 
world's knowledge, not only upon cosmopolitan 
questions but upon man. In every race with 
which foreign missions have dealt, however low, 
ignorant, or fierce, some of the natives have shown 
a capacity for applying themselves to the acquisi- 
tion of learning. They have demonstrated the 
truth of the apostle's statement that "God hath 
made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell 
on all the face of the earth, and hath determined 
the times before appointed, and the bounds of 
their habitation." 

This fact could be supported by competent testi- 
mony from many lands and different races, but 



148 ESSENTIALS OF FOREIGN MISSIONS 

the only instance which I will adduce relates to 
the improvement of natives of the South Sea 
Islands, and my witness shall be a man who shares 
with Tennyson, Holmes, and Abraham Lincoln 
a place among the distinguished men born in 
1809 — Charles Darwin, who would by many be 
considered the last man to have definite connection 
with Christian Missions. 

In 1870 he wrote to B. J. Sullivan a letter in 
which he said: 

I had never heard a word about the success of the 
Tierra del Fuego mission. It is most wonderful, and 
shames me, as I always prophesied utter failure. It 
is a grand success. I shall feel proud if your committee 
think fit to elect me an honorary member of your 
Society. 

The Archbishop of Canterbury, speaking at the 
annual meeting of the South American Mis- 
sionary Society, said that the Society "drew the 
attention of Charles Darwin, and made him, in his 
pursuit of the wonders of the kingdom of nature, 
realize that there was another 'kingdom as wonder- 
ful and more lasting/' The Archbishop in mak- 
ing that statement went too far, and Mr. Darwin's 
son and biographer sets the matter right. There 
being in the Daily News, of London, for four suc- 
cessive days in 1885, some discussion of this sub- 
ject, Admiral Sir James Sullivan, a lieutenant on 
board the Beagle with Darwin, wrote to that paper 



WHAT OF THE PRESENT AND FUTURE? 149 

a "clear account" of Darwin's connection with the 
Society. 

This is the Admiral's letter: 

Your article in the Daily News of yesterday induces 
me to give you a correct statement of the connection 
between the South American Missionary Society and 
Mr. Charles Darwin, my old friend and shipmate for 
five years. I have been closely connected with the 
Society from the time of Captain Allen Gardiner's death, 
and Mr. Darwin has often expressed to me his convic- 
tion that it was utterly useless to send missionaries to 
such a set of savages as the Fuegians, probably the 
very lowest of the human race. I had always replied 
that I did not believe any human beings existed too 
low to comprehend the simple message of the Gospel 
of Christ. After many years, I think about 1869, but 
I cannot find the letter, he wrote to me that the recent 
accounts of the mission proved to him that he had been 
wrong and I right in our estimates of the native char- 
acter, and the possibility of doing them good through 
missionaries; and he requested me to forward to the 
Society an inclosed cheque for five pounds, as a testi- 
mony of the interest he took in their good work. On 
June 6th, 1874, he wrote: "I am very glad to hear so 
good an account of the Fuegians, and it is wonderful." 
On June 10th, 1879: "The progress of the Fuegians is 
wonderful, and had it not occurred would have been 
to me quite incredible." On January 3d, 1880: "Your 
extracts about the Fuegians are extremely curious, and 
have interested me much. I have often said that the 
progress of Japan was the greatest wonder in the world, 
but I declare that the progress of Fuegia is almost 
equally wonderful." On March 20th, 1881: "The ac- 
count of the Fuegians interested not only me but all 
my family. It is truly wonderful what you have heard 
from Mr. Bridges about their honesty and their Ian- 



150 ESSENTIALS OF FOREIGN MISSIONS 

guage. I certainly should have predicted that not all 
the missionaries in the world could have done what has 
been done." On December 1st, 1881, sending me his 
annual subscription to the Orphanage at the Mission 
Station, he wrote: "Judging from the Missionary Jour- 
nal, the mission in Tierra del Fuego seems going on 
quite wonderfully well" (Vol. II, p. 308, Life and Let- 
ters of Charles Darwin, published in this country). 

I adduce the foregoing simply in proof that 
those apparently undeveloped savages were capable 
not merely by a slow process of successive genera- 
tions, but in one generation, and under the in- 
fluence of missionaries, of such improvement as 
astonished Christians and Charles Darwin. 

What of the Future ? 

In the year 1907 there were 18,591 Protestant 
foreign missionaries in non-Christian lands, and 
the Christians of Europe and America gave that 
year for their support and for churches, schools, 
hospitals, printing presses, and other work under 
their care, $21,280,147. The stations and out- 
stations occupied aggregate 36,748. The number 
of definitely known adult converts and adherents 
is already 6,202,631, and it is rapidly increasing. 1 

1 The World Atlas of Christian Missions, published by the Student 
Volunteer Movement for Foreign Missions in 1911, and based on the 
Statistical Atlas presented at the World Missionary Conference at Edin- 
burgh in 1910, but enlarged to include missions in Roman Catholic 
lands (except in Europe), gives the total of foreign missionaries as 
21,307; stations and out-stations, 38,557; total of Christian adherents, 
6,837,736. The Missionary Review of the World for January, 1911, 
gives the income of the Protestant missionary societies of the world 
for 1910 as $26,890,104. 



WHAT OF THE PRESENT AND FUTURE? 151 

Have missions done all that could have been 
rationally and spiritually expected of them ? 

Who can tell ? But with the present appliances 
in ten years this showing should be doubled. 

In the course of human development doubtless 
some existing religions will dissolve; some new 
religions will be born and die, and some will have 
a longer lease of life. 

Before the world is Christianized the great 
non-Christian religions must be modified almost 
beyond recollection or entirely disappear. 

Those who think this epoch to be near I cannot 
understand. Those who prophesied fifty years ago 
that in less than thirty years the whole world 
would be evangelized have failed. And those who 
from the time of His ascension have declared the 
coming of the Lord to be near, have succeeded each 
other without the longed-for vision. 

During a few decades last past great success 
has attended the labors of genuine missionaries 
and missions ; and changes in favor of the spread 
of Christianity have followed speedily. 

The Church must sow the seed; the Mastee 
must give the rain, the light and heat, till the 
harvest time of the world. 



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